A proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter at I-35 and Slaughter Lane threatens to displace low-income residents of a tumbledown trailer park, but a state law that took effect last year could buy them more time and trump the landowners’ wishes to have them gone by Sept. 15.
“Ten to one this property owner isn’t aware of the law,” Bruce Rodenborn, a housing counselor with the Austin Tenants Council, said earlier this week. The law, which took effect in April 2002, requires property owners of mobile-home communities to give at least 120 days’ notice when land-use changes are afoot. The landlord’s attorney, Vincent Hazen, wrote the eviction letter dated Aug. 2, giving tenants just 42 days to box up their households and haul away their homes. Neither Hazen nor his client, Marvin Euers, could be reached at press time. “Our opinion is that the landlord has to give 120 days, or at least a minimum of 60 days,” Rodenborn said. He noted that the law does not specifically address month-to-month tenants and may need clarification from the courts.
Representatives from Wal-Mart and developer Endeavor Real Estate Group — also the developer of the other controversial Supercenter project over the aquifer at Slaughter and MoPac — said they were not aware of the trailer-park issue until the Chronicle brought it to their attention and that they would help those residents who need help with transition issues, timing, and other assistance. The city Zoning and Platting Commission would have learned of the residents’ plight when it considered Endeavor’s zoning-change request for the I-35 property, but the case was postponed at the request of the nearby Park Ridge Homeowners Association, which opposes the project. When the item returns to the agenda Sept. 9, the ZAP will consider rezoning a hodgepodge of separately owned properties to clear the way for the more than 200,000-square-foot store. Endeavor has options to buy the properties and intends to negotiate a ground-lease agreement with Wal-Mart. “The question before [ZAP] and the council is not whether there is a Wal-Mart or not, but whether GR [commercial zoning] is appropriate zoning for the corner of I-35 and Slaughter,” an Endeavor spokesperson said.
The discovery of the mobile-home residents — they’re down a dirt road off Slaughter and practically hidden from view — has fortified opposition to the Wal-Mart proposal. The Park Ridge HOA opposes the Supercenter based on its size, increased traffic, and other concerns. But Tom Madison, a firefighter who lives in Park Ridge, has known about the hardscrabble community ever since he went there on an emergency call. Calling the short eviction notice unfair, he took it upon himself to circulate a petition among the residents and provide them with maps to the ZAP meeting.
But for now, the trailer-park folks are only concerned about one thing: finding an affordable place to live. This hassle is compounded by the fact that most mobile-home communities won’t accept trailers more than 15 or 20 years old, and most of the trailers on Slaughter Lane are older Eighties models — and may fall apart under the strain of moving from one place to another.
“My trailer’s in pretty good shape, but I can’t find nowhere to put it,” said resident Bruce Kranz, sitting at a picnic table under a large oak tree with neighbor James Cole. Cole was laid off from his job in May and suffers from lung cancer. His Social Security income doesn’t kick in until November, so for now he’s living hand-to-mouth on unemployment. He doesn’t welcome the prospect of paying more than his current $200 in monthly rent. “Nearly every place I’ve called wants $600 or $700 a month. I just can’t afford that,” he said.
Some residents just enrolled their kids in school and worry about how this upheaval will affect their lives. “This is a real short time for us,” Ismael Alviso said of the 42-day eviction notice. He actually got less than 21 days’ notice, since he returned home just last week from an out-of-town job. “I’m worried about this mostly for the kids,” he said of his three children, ages 8, 9, and 16.
Johanna England is in a similar ditch. She had just found employment a short distance from the trailer park and is starting her new job polishing stones this week. Now, she says, her only alternative is to move in with her daughter in Llano, hampering her chances of getting reliable transportation to and from work every day.
This article appears in August 29 • 2003.
