A West Orange woman lost her battle to get a variance to a city ordinance that would allow her to place a manufactured home on property, but she won the war. Haven Allison wants to move a manufactured home to the corner of South and Henrietta, but city ordinances prohibits it unless it is in a trailer park.
The West Orange City Council agreed Monday to hold a workshop next week to discuss a new ordinance that would allow certain manufactured houses in certain areas of the city. The new ordinance that was suggested would mean Allison would not need a variance to move her home there.
Mayor Roy McDonald voted against the variance request, but supports the writing of a new ordinance to cover manufactured housing. He believes using the majority of Flood Plain A would allow citizens to rebuild using HUDCO manufactured homes that must be elevated and would be higher than homes built on a slab. McDonald suggested, “Maybe it would allow some of our residents that had flooded out to be able to rebuild, even get a HUDCO manufactured home in that same area where they presently live.”
Allison was obviously very pleased with the proposal of a new ordinance that would allow her to move her upscaled manufactured home to West Orange. “It gives us a brand new outlook, we’ll have a brand new neighborhood compared to what we had in the past, and I’m just excited about it and thankful,” Allison exclaimed.
The workshop for the City Council to discuss the new ordinance will be held next Tuesday at noon. Public Works Director Mike Stelly and Code Enforcement Officer Dean Fuller were assigned the task of writing the new ordinance after the workshop and have it ready for the City Council to approve by its next meeting on December 11.
A couple wanting to move to West Orange got some good news Monday. Jay Odom and wife Mary are wanting to purchase property at 903 Flint Street, but could not afford it with the lien and taxes owed on the property.
In October the West Orange City Council agreed to waive the interest on the lien, but not the $5200 hundred dollars for the demolition of a structure on the property years ago. Upon further investigation, it was determined that the Stark Foundation paid for the demolition with a grant, thus West Orange was not out any money for the demolition.
With this information the City Council unanimously approved waiving the entire lien on the property with the contingency that the Odoms do purchase the property. The Odoms indicated previously they plan to build on the property and retire in West Orange.
The City Council split the city’s 24 votes for the Orange County Appraisal District between three candidates. Laura Floyd, Tim Schossow, and John Zerko each received eight votes.
Eastex Utility Construction was awarded a contract for $233,412.56 to perform water system improvements as part of a Texas Community Development Block Grant. The City Council approved rejecting the lone bid received for the city-wide demolition project which is funded by the General Land Office. The bid did not meet bid specifications.
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