Let's Talk about Blight

Mike Tyson is known for saying "everyone's got a plan, until they get hit." When the original developers of Lake Isabella started forming the community, they also had a plan. Part of their plan was to establish an early cash-flow in order to fund the rest of the development process. This plan included allowing single-wide mobile homes in three plats of Lake Isabella.

These three plats, Lake Isabella Forest 1 (1969), Lake Isabella Forest 2 (1971), and Lake Isabella Woods (1968) are the only three plats in the community where single-wide mobile homes were permitted. By being permissive to single-wides, the developers hoped they could quickly sell lots and bring people into the community. This would give them funds and word-of-mouth to help spur interest in the rest of the development.

To appreciate the mindset one should also consider the views of John Steinbeck in his book "Travels with Charley." The book published in 1962 recounts his 1960 cross country travel with his dog Charley. He show great interest in mobile homes, and how it was a symbol of a changing America. An America where historical family roots seemed to matter less than our ability to find a more pleasing place to live.

Over time what we have seen in these three plats is not the reality that Steinbeck saw. Rather, what was once a weekend "cottage" has been sold, passed-down, or inherited sometimes many times over. Often times the property goes through a period of neglect before a new owner takes interest.

On our end we see a disproportionate level of blight and code enforcement cases at our most seasoned single-wides in these three plats. All told nearly 25% of code enforcement violations come from less than 3% of our housing stock.

As such, in June I will be formally presenting a program to the Village Council to address this issue. Specifically, the idea is to sell a portion of the property we purchased from Mt. Pleasant Excavating on Coldwater Road to use as seed money in a revolving fund.

The money would fund the purchase of blighted properties and the demolition of the structure.  The main target would be properties foreclosed by Isabella County for unpaid property taxes.  As a local unit of government we have the ability to buy them before they are offered for public auction. Once the property was cleared, it would then be offered for sale, with the proceeds going back into the fund to continue the effort.

Our goals are simple:
1. Abate blight nuisances
2. Remove non-conforming structures
3. Insulate property values
4. Promote safe and healthy neighborhoods