Dec. 14 Board of Adjustment Hearing

Emailed to area neighbors 12/15/05

Dear neighbors,
Yesterday the Board of Adjustments of Dallas voted unanimously to revoke the Ash Creek Mobile Home Park legal grandfathered zoning status.

Lola, Bobbie, Cathy, Laurie and myself were in attendance in support of allowing the MHP to
stay within our neighborhood. Eight Barbaree neighbors have been active in a group that has been in communication with the owner and manager to make improvements - (I have
served as spokesperson for the group).

Anyway, be prepared for the land at the end of Barbaree to within a year become an empty lot - as 51 families from the Mobile Home Park will be displaced. At least 30 residents from the "park" were present, along with Mr. Crossett (the owner) and his 82 yr.old mother (the original owner who still manages the park). 15 speakers spoke to keep the Park and spoke to the allegations about crime and code violations against the Park. I have read the code violation report, more than 1/2 for sure are for bulk trash, high weeds (in the creek) and litter
- also stray animals. We pointed out that this land is right in between a creek and a railroad track and very vulnerable to having illegal dumping from outsiders (all the time) and wild and stray animals coming into or being dumped into the Park. The applicants in this case (to remove the Park) were ademant that ALL this Code violation and the calls about gun shots came from the Park itself - accused the nice people there of being mostly criminal and uncaring of their properties.

I wish you had been there to hear and see our "neighbors" down the road. We met and heard from a nurse who lives with her 86 yr.old father who is a WWII veteran, a single mother of two children who go to Sanger elem., a mother with a deaf son who has the opportunity of the programs at Sanger, a mother whos son and daughter are in Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, a single man who researched places to move his small trailer and found the Ash Creek Mobile Home Park to be the most quiet and no crime Mobile Home Park that he could move to, also many others who testified that the Park was not an area of crime as accused by the applicants from area upper class neighborhoods. We met and heard from Mr. Crossett, a quiet spoken man who said he was willing to do anything necessary to bring the Park into compliance and has done so with every single code request all along the way. He was drilled by the "other" side - Ms. Dolores Wolfe, a resident of the Enclave of Ash Creek (at Lakeland and Ferg) She has lived there for 4 years and is interested in seeing more high-end development in our area and probably more "walled" neighborhoods - including at the end of Barbaree.

The "other side" did not hide the fact that they wanted to see the MHP be developed into townhomes of $300,000 price range. Mr. Crossett was badgered because he has not accepted offers from developer, Mr. Charles Magee, to purchase his land - Mr. Magee's name was used repeatedly as a developer who is willing to develop properties on Barbaree and at the MHP.

So, neighbors - sorry you could not hear all this in person - it is hard to describe. Lola, Bobbie, Kathy, Laurie and I saw with our own eyes the primary purpose behind all of this - to grab the land and rid our neighborhood of the lower income people. It is an outrage in so doing, that they made wrong accusations against a less powerful and poorer group that live at the Park. However, this group was very good in their speeches before the Board, showed respect and intelligence in their statements. They tried hard to show that this was the place they wished to live because it is quite and peaceful and has access to good schools, etc.

Be ready Barbaree - as the "Enclaves" and developers in our midst come back and begin to get zoning changes all around us to build more oversized "giraffe" houses behind walls. Mrs. Wolfe - the spokesperson for the "Enclaves" even stated in her rebuttal that it did not matter that the MHomePark land was in a floodplane (as I and others pointed out) she said flood plane lands CAN BE developed with proper filling.

The next Board of Adjustments hearing to set a date to displace all the people of the "trailer park" and close Mr. Crossett and his mother's business is Feb. 15.

Stay tuned!