Elkhart City Council Discusses Possible Mobile Home Park

By Sarah Naron
Messenger Reporter

ELKHART – Elkhart resident Brian Coody approached the council regarding the possibility of a mobile home park being established on Hwy. 287 N. at the Elkhart City Council meeting on Feb. 19.

“It’s a piece by piece thing,” Coody said of the project. “We’ve only got four back there now, and it’s actually on CR 162, not Hwy. 287. Nothing we’re doing is actually in the city yet.”

According to Coody, the mobile homes currently on the property are spaced 40 feet apart, and enough space exists to accommodate 20 mobile homes.

“As of right now, nothing is actually in the city, and nothing is in the works to be placed any further than what’s there right now,” Coody said.

Mayor Mike Gordon inquired about the ages of the mobile homes currently located on the property.

“The oldest one is, like, a ’94,” Coody shared. “Once we get through with them and have them ready to rent, they’ll all be in good shape. They’ll have skirting underneath them, and we’ll have the property fenced and looking nice. It won’t be a slum park, by any means.”

As City Secretary Carla Sheridan pointed out, no action can be taken by the council on Coody’s project if all homes are located outside of the city limits.

However, Sheridan continued, “if a portion of that property is inside the city limits, and regardless, even if it is outside the city limits, you still fall under our extra-jurisdictional territory, which the city can enforce its ordinances upon.”

According to Sheridan, the city’s attorney is currently in the process of ensuring that all of the city’s subdivision ordinances are up to date.

“They made the motion to do that at the last meeting, and I still haven’t heard anything back from him regarding that,” Sheridan reported.

Elkhart Public Works Supervisor B.J. Perry said an issue he foresees in the future is in regards to sewage.

“We don’t provide sewer out there, and as per the OSSF (on-site sewage facility) regulations, you have to have a minimum of 10 acres for one house,” Perry pointed out. “So, unless you’re planning to do aerobic for every house, that’s going to get costly.”

Coody informed that a professional would be coming to examine the property’s septic system the day after the meeting.

“We’re going to do it right, guys,” he vowed. “We want it to look attractive; we don’t want it to look bad. We want to do it the right way.”

Following a period of further discussion, a motion was made, seconded and unanimously carried by the members of the board to take no action on the matter.