Highway 41: Future expansion to wipe out manufactured home parks

Five out of six options the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) is considering for expanding Highway 41 in the southwestern Twin Cities metro area would wipe out a handful of manufactured home parks. And the sixth isn’t much better: It would disturb the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge near Bloomington.

Though it won’t be built for another 20 years, MnDOT has already started planning for the Minnesota River crossing that officials say will serve as a valuable link between U.S. highways 169 and 212 through Scott and Carver counties. Some advocates for the manufactured homes’ tenants, however, are concerned about the project’s social justice implications.

In some route alignments, more than 1,000 people could be displaced. Another would relocate 180 people. Those likely to bear most of the burden are low-income, minority residents, advocates contend. The highway’s environmental impact study acknowledges the disparate impact, which federal guidelines require it to report.

Continued: Click “Read more”Although construction of the river crossing is still decades away, the parks’ residents are already feeling the effects: Their property values are declining while questions remain about prospects to sell the homes. In response, the parks’ advocates are asking that MnDOT reroute the highway to avoid the developments altogether or devise a mutually agreed-upon mitigation plan. They intend to make those demands at a June 13 public meeting in Shakopee’s Jackson Heights.

The highway project’s adverse impact on manufactured home parks is but one case study in an emerging statewide trend. Since 2000, 14 manufactured home parks have fallen prey to highway expansion and other redevelopment projects, according to information from the All Parks Alliance for Change, a St. Paul-based advocacy group that lobbies on behalf of the parks’ tenants.

In this case, four manufactured home parks are endangered, including Jackson Heights, Mobile Manor, Bonnevista and Riverview. Four of the bridge routes under consideration would take out nearly 500 of the boxlike dwellings, according to the environmental impact study. (MnDOT is slated to decide on a route by the end of the year.)

Currently, an alignment that would cut through Jackson Heights, the 65-dwelling community in Shakopee, appears to be the most attractive option for the highway’s planners, even though it notes a heavy environmental justice impact under federal guidelines. Its population is 90 percent Latino, and 38 percent of its residents are children.

Felix Diaz, who lives in Jackson Heights and is part of its residents’ association, is worried about losing his home. Moving would mean pulling his children out of the school where they’ve built relationships with teachers and other students. “It’s a big change for life. The kids would have to start over,” he said. Additionally, at Jackson Heights, everyone knows each other. “We feel the park is safe. If we move to a different place, we don’t know what will be going on there.” 

Krystal Klein, an organizer from the All Parks Alliance for Change, said the houses provide some of the area’s most affordable housing, which is limited. People typically own the structures but not the lots they’re sited on. (Unlike the more old-fashioned manufactured homes, they aren’t mobile, making it costly and sometimes impossible to simply relocate them.)

Further, uprooted families have trouble finding other affordable options nearby, especially with anticipated zoning changes and a dearth of lower-priced housing options near their jobs in Chaska or Shakopee.  In the interim, landlords no longer have any incentive to maintain the parks, Klein said. In a survey with the parks’ tenants, “We asked people how they felt about the project. We didn’t get any positive answers,” she said. “They’ve been left out of the process.”

That five of the six options for the highway pose difficulties to the parks is an unintended consequence of the expansion, according to MnDOT’s Diane Langenbach, who says that the state agency always strives to be conscientious of project outcomes. “The areas where the parks are just happen to be good locations for the transportation system,” said Langenbach, who added that the options are “far from ideal.”

In the case of the route alignment that would cut through Jackson Heights, she admits that it’s not ideal, but believes that it “still offers some opportunities for mitigation that might be workable.” She pointed to increasing congestion on the highway, one of the most heavily trafficked roadways in the state. On top of that, the corridor’s low bridges make the roads vulnerable to flooding. MnDOT has to tread lightly in other territories, as well, she said, which includes businesses, the Historic Chaska Cubs ballfield and the Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area trails, among others.

“Usually one route stands out as the shining star, but in this case, none of the options seem entirely ideal,” she said.