Mobile homeowners: Where will we live?

By Mollee Francisco

As owner and operator of Riverview Terrace, a mobile home park just off of Stoughton Avenue in Chaska, Dustin Brakemeier has worked hard to create a feeling of community among the 245 homes and nearly 1,000 residents his park holds.

But now, with rumors of a highway destined to go directly over their neighborhood, Brakemeier has been doing more damage control than community-building.

“It’s become five, six, seven times a day they are asking me about the highway,” Brakemeier said.

Riverview Terrace stands smack in the middle of three easterly options for a future Highway 41 Minnesota River crossing connecting new Highway 212 with Highway 169. Not surprisingly, Brakemeier and his residents are not big fans of any of those options.

Riverview Terrace residents gathered with fellow mobile homeowners Monday night at Firemens’ Park in Chaska to rally against those routes that would threaten their homes.

“We will oppose this bridge,” said Brakemeier. “We think it should go west.”

Residents of Chaska’s Riverview Terrace were not alone. Five of the six options for a new crossing affect mobile home parks including Bonnevista Terrace, Mobile Manor and Jackson Heights – all in Shakopee. The westerly option, W-2, which bisects Chaska and Carver, is the only route that would not affect a mobile home park.

“There’s definitely a lot of anger,” said Krystal Klein with All Parks Alliance for Change (APAC), a non-profit tenants union that organized the rally.

Klein said that many residents are worried if their park closes, they would be forced to move out of the area because they could not afford to live anywhere else.

“Homeowners are angry that (the Minnesota Department of Transportation) MnDOT has targeted the affordable housing in the area,” said Klein in a press release.

APAC monitors mobile home park closures in the state and has noted a “growing trend” of park closings in the metro due to highway development. Since 2000, they have seen 20 parks, with 669 lots, lost in the state of Minnesota. Six more, including the four involved with the Highway 41 Minnesota River crossing, are at risk.

Brakemeier said his residents are worried that they won’t get a fair shake if one of the easterly routes was chosen.

“I get a few people saying, ‘We’re thinking of moving.’ ‘We don’t want to have our house taken.’ ‘We don’t think we’ll get a fair deal for our house,’” he relayed.

Grecia Lozano has lived in Riverview Terrace with her family for the last seven years. She couldn’t imagine having to move and is even wavering on whether or not to live in the dorms during her freshman year of college or continue living at home while she takes classes at the University of St. Thomas.

“There’s a lot of friendship down here,” she said of Riverview Terrace. “It’s a really good neighborhood to live in. It’s upsetting they would think of tearing it down.”

Lozano got involved with the rally when she was asked to do some translation for a previous meeting on the river crossings.

“I realized it was something that would affect my family,” she said.

Since then, she has been talking to residents in the mobile home park about the proposed crossings.

“They are aware, but not fully aware,” she said. “They are not thinking it would happen any time soon.”

Lozano knows that the project isn’t in MnDOT’s 20-year plan, but understands that could change. “It might happen tomorrow,” she said. “It might happen in a year.”

Lozano said that her message has been to tell fellow residents to “be aware of what’s going on.” For those who don’t live in Riverview Terrace, Lozano said she appeals to their hearts.

“I talk about how many people’s lives would be affected by this,” she said.

Klein thinks their awareness campaign is starting to take off. She said to date they have sent 350 postcards to MnDOT opposing any option that would eliminate their homes. They hope to get many more as MnDOT’s Aug. 10 comment period approaches.