'Worst idea' may become city property

Port Richey likely will buy a blighted mobile home park.

By CAMILLE C. SPENCER, Times Staff Writer
Published December 14, 2007

PORT RICHEY - Mark Hashim thinks buying a blighted mobile home park without a plan for the land is "the worst idea in the history of bad ideas."

Despite Hashim's objections, the City Council Tuesday voted 3-2 to direct interim city manager Jim Mathieu to move forward with negotiations to purchase the 1.6-acre Port Richey Mobile Home Park at River Gulf Road and U.S. 19. Along with Hashim, fellow council member Steven O'Neill also dissented.

The council also asked Mathieu to order a second appraisal - the first was for $853,000 - and offer up to $847,000 for the property.

When the park was put up for sale last year for $799,000 by Coldwell Banker's Wikle Properties, neighbors and police say drug use and prostitution was rampant in the area.

By February, the residents moved away and crime slowly dwindled. Left behind were broken glass and garbage-filled mobile homes. The property is also now in foreclosure and has two liens, Mathieu said.

Last month, council member Nancy Britton approached the council about buying the park to change its image.

On Tuesday night, her plan to buy the property and decide how to develop it later was met with opposition by Hashim as the council wrangled over the issue for more than an hour.

"Without vision, without focus, how do we plan where to go?" Hashim said. "How do we accept the final step without knowing what the first step is?"

Britton said she feared for the lives of kids who had become hooked on drugs they purchased from dealers in the park, and wanted to act as soon as possible.

"I am not willing to sit on the fence any longer," she said. "I am jumping off."

During the meeting, some residents questioned the council's quick decisionmaking on theproperty.

"What's the rush on this?" said Brian Roberts. "We have no vision or plan...if the house next door to me starts dealing drugs, can I come to council and say, 'let's snatch this property up?'"

Toward the end of the discussion, Hashim made a motion to table the purchase of the park until the council meets again in January. The motion failed, 3-2, and Mathieu was told to move forward with the purchase, using money from the city's Community Redevelopment Fund. Again, Hashim and O'Neill dissented.

In other business, the council moved a discussion on finding a city manager to replace Mathieu to next month's agenda. So far, four applicants have been offered the job and turned it down.

The council also voted 5-0 in favor of creating an ordinance for the traffic light safety system that would place cameras at two of the city's intersections:Ridge Road and U.S. 19 and Leo Kidd Avenue and Ridge Road. The system will take pictures of the license plates of cars running red lights, and send the registered owner of the car a ticket. Drivers can view themselves breaking the law online.

City officials are unsure when the system will be up and running, but said 30 days before the system goes up, drivers who run red lights at the designated intersections will receive warnings. After the 30 days, police will begin to issue $125 tickets.

Camille C. Spencer can be reached at cspencer@sptimes.com or 727 869-6229.

[Last modified December 13, 2007, 21:31:43]