The Marshall County Board of Zoning Appeals recently gave a go-ahead to Lane Shepherd of MHC LLC to move forward with improvements to the mobile home park located in Inwood.
The park has drastically declined over the years and Shepherd’s company is seeking to drastically renovate it from its current state.
Currently, the park has multiple empty pads and Shepherd would like to bring the park back to full status in addition to seriously upgrading the current conditions in the park. Since many of the pads in the park have been vacant for a long period of time the zoning of the city now does not permit mobile homes in the empty sites. Shepherd was seeking a variance of use to allow him to begin his improvements.
Since purchasing the property, MHC has removed large amounts of trash from the site and began work on the well and septic system. Shepherd said that currently, he is pumping the septic twice a year even though it is far from full and intends to flush it quarterly once the park moves beyond the 11 current units.
He has demolished five homes that were on the property that were vacant and not up to standard.
There is currently one well for the property, as he recently abandoned a second due to issues incurred by previous owners and stated that the park was in good standing with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
Shepherd said that he intended to invest over half a million dollars and bring in new homes that would be for sale and not for rent. He said the existing 11 homeowners would be allowed to stay on the property as long as they adhered to the new community standards that would be put in place.
During the public hearing, concerns about the type of residents that would be allowed in the park citing the history of problems with past residents. There were also concerns over the septic for the park as it has “overflowed” in the past.
Shepherd told the board that the company does complete background and credit checks on anyone who would purchase the homes pointing out that they also would have to qualify for a mortgage since there would be no rental homes in the park. The resident would purchase the home and pay the mortgage company while paying the lot rent to MHC.
He said that strict standards for properties would be enforced and there would be no subleasing of any home.
Shepherd also pointed out that the homes would be brand new 2024 models and the improvements to the park would increase the property tax evaluation, resulting in more money for the county in property tax.
The Plan Commission staff and the Technical Review Committee had both recommended approval for the project and the BZA unanimously gave their approval.
