Rezoning Could Spell End to Raleigh Mobile-Home Park

Raleigh, N.C. — A plan to bring new development to north Raleigh could leave more than 160 residents of a mobile-home park looking for a new place to live.

A prospective buyer wants city officials to rezone the Homestead Village Mobile Home Community, a 38.5-acre property off Capital Boulevard, near Jacqueline Drive. The rezoning would allow a shopping center, offices, apartments and single-family residences.

"If zoning is approved and site plans are approved, it's anticipated the property will be sold and re-developed," said David York, an attorney for the prospective buyer of the mobile-home park.

Although they may own their own mobile homes, residents rent the lots on which their homes sit in Homestead Village, owned by Robert and Katherine Binns.

Many residents said they fear they will be forced out of their community if the property is sold.

"I can't see this neighborhood destroyed. We've lived here too long," said Claudia Snow, who has lived in the Homestead park for 34 years.

Resident Loida Guerrero said it might be too expensive to move her mobile home, which she bought a month ago.

"(We don't) know what we're going to do, especially because we're young, and we just bought our home," Guerrero said. "It's such a short time, we don't know about money-wise and everything."

The prospective buyer is trying to help residents find other options, York said.

Robert Binns said that he "felt bad" for the residents and that health problems factored into his decision to sell the park, which he has owned since 1979.

"I'm 70 years old. I'm on oxygen," Binns said. "It's rental property. It's time for me to get rid of it."

Binns, who implied that he has been hospitalized several times in recent years, said he did not want to leave the burden of operating the park to his wife.

The potential buyer said development on the property would not begin until next year. Binns said he will not sell until the rezoning process is completed.

The Raleigh City Planning Commission issued a draft recommendation backing the rezoning. The committee has until July 22 to issue its final recommendation to the City Council.

Council members must approve the rezoning.

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Latest Comments

Get ready for more McMansions. You cannot even tell where you are any more in Raleigh because all the subdivisions look the same. Gone is the Plantation Inn. It looks like this long-standing mobile home park will disappear too. Gone with the Wind.... Raleigh will build a riverwalk to try to look like San Antonio when we do not even have a major river flowing through downtown Raleigh. Why don't we try something else and highlight what makes Raleigh a unique southern city.

Awake in Wake
April 25, 2008 3:53 p.m.

Raleigh needs another shopping center, indoor mall, out door mall, strip mall or flea market like we need a third eyeball and arm coming out of the middle of our backs! You can't swing a dead cat on that end of town without hitting an open store front. And the traffic up there is horrible already. Unless people will fly helicopters in and out of the new shopping center, I'd say no way should the land be zoned for shopping.

I'm all for growth but it needs to be done sensibly. Here's a novel idea. Build some smaller houses on that spot. 1100 or 1200 sq ft, that the Regular Joes can afford. One of the reasons the housing market tanked was because too many people over extended to buy houses that were too big for their wallets. The avg new home in Raleigh is 2000 sq ft. That's nice, but pricey.

If Raleigh keeps going like this, it will be just one huge shopping center and we'll all have to live elsewhere and just come here to shop, or fly our helicopters around.

discowhale
April 25, 2008 3:42 p.m.

I'm hoping that if they build a retail area they'll put in a day spa for 4 year olds!

xxxxxxxxxxxxx
April 25, 2008 2:51 p.m.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with whether Raleigh needs more shopping or not. It's simply determined by whether the developer feels he can make a profit. He already knows the council will eagerly say yes to the rezoning, so it's just a numbers game, nothing more.

Beachnut
April 25, 2008 11:34 a.m.

Dear Raleigh: The less-than-wealthy need to live somewhere (safe) within our city. The folks who work at barely-minimum wage jobs are necessary for our survival and with gass approaching $4, things are already tight for them. I don't begrudge the owner for selling, especially given his reason for doing so, but as others have said, don't build one more shopping center until all the empty ones -- which are eyesores in my adopted homecity -- are filled. If you want to develop, then RE-develop buildings that already exist, don't shove people out of their homes, out of their community, to construct more buildings we don't need.

Besides, my understanding is that once a mobile home has been in place for 10 years, it is illegal to move it, though this could be specific to the area where relatives live outside Charlotte.

kermelbar
April 25, 2008 11:13 a.m.