Temporary housing is being eliminated in West Orange. Almost 15 months since Tropical Storm Harvey hit the city temporary housing provided by FEMA and the General Land Office is nearing an end in West Orange.
The City Council has voted to deny an extension for the permits of temporary housing in the city. City Code Enforcement Officer Dean Fuller informed there are only three families in West Orange still residing in the FEMA trailers. Fuller added that from what he could observe those families were making no effort to repair their previous homes damaged in the flooding from Harvey.
A request for a variance to the ordinance prohibiting manufactured housing in West Orange was heard by the City Council. Giancarlo Cardenas is requesting the variance for a small piece of property on Kountze Street to place his trailer.
A mobile home was previously on the property and another trailer is on the neighboring piece of land, but they were “grandfathered” under the ordinance prohibiting mobile home trailers in certain parts of West Orange.
Council members Dr. Frances Droddy Lopez and Randy Branch expressed interest in granting the request for a variance. Dale Dardeau, however, made a motion to deny the request because of the potential flood of mobile homes that would be caused by granting the variance.
Mayor Roy McDonald explained the circumstances of the council granting a variance to one of the city’s ordinances like the one prohibiting manufactured housing would make it difficult to deny any future requests for a variance. “We would have to have very good reasons not to grant any request for a variance that comes before the council,” McDonald said.
Dardeau’s motion to deny the request for a variance died for a lack of a second. The request was tabled until the next City Council meeting on December 10.
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