scottw@standard-democrat.com
SIKESTON -- A planned redevelopment of a trailer park is fine but whoever owns the property needs to clean it up in the meantime.
Bills which would rezone property along Harry Avenue from R-6 manufactured housing to R-2 single family residential and change the name of the street to Dockins Drive were read for the first time during the Sikeston City Council's regular monthly briefing session Monday.
The redevelopment by the Dockins Development Group would include all but four lots on that street, two with mobile homes on them and two that are vacant lots.
Fred Thornton, a Sikeston attorney, said it is his legal opinion that state statutes provide the current owners with the right to continue with the current use even after the area is rezoned until they abandon that use. Thornton said as not having a trailer on the property does not mean that use has been abandoned, another trailer could be brought in even if the lot is vacant now.
But an unanticipated issue was raised when Donna Miles expressed her concern regarding the "health hazard and a safety issue" facing her mother, an 86-year-old resident of Harry Avenue.
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