Trailer proposal catches a hitch

A proposal to allow rentals of some of the trailers vacated by families displaced by the Bluebird Canyon landslide was tabled by the council at the Oct. 21 meeting.

Canyon Acres residents complained that they had not been given timely notice of the Planning Commission hearing scheduled for the next night on the proposal to extend the expired temporary-use permit for the trailers and to allow the property owner to rent some or all of the trailers, as the Bluebird families leave.

“To continue to use the trailers as rentals after the landslide victims move out is an insult to our neighborhood,” canyon resident Sissy Caris said.

City Manager Ken Frank said the proposal to allow the rentals gave the property owner an opportunity to recoup some money and not charge the landslide families, who probably will still be there for another year or 18 months.

Attorney Gene Gratz said Canyon Acres residents were not notified about the agenda item until two days before the scheduled commission meeting.

“The notice was put in a neighbor’s mailbox last night,” Caris told the council. “That is not proper notice.”

Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson, who was instrumental in getting the trailers moved to Canyon Acres as temporary housing for the Bluebird families, said the issue was more properly the purview of the council than the commission.

“This seems to me to be a policy decision without council participation, and I am not sure how I feel about it,” Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson said. “The trailers were intended for the landslide victims — I had them moved there. We can do an emergency TUP if it has expired.”

Frank said he would make certain that Canyon Acres residents were properly noticed and bring the item back to the council.