KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
Kayla Desroches/KMXT
The new owner of the property formerly known as Jackson’s Mobile Home Park is preparing to develop the land into single-family homes.
The Planning and Zoning Commission will look over a rezone request and hold a public hearing Wednesday night at its regular meeting.
Up until last year, around a 100 trailers occupied that plot of land along Spruce Cape road. Many lauded the mobile home park for its more affordable access to classic Kodiak views. The park also had its challenges with drugs in the past.
In 2015, residents received notice that they would need to vacate the premises. Kevin Suydam, a fisherman and car collector, had purchased the property and intended to develop it.
The plot is now more or less vacant except for a few remaining structures. Residents have since moved their homes, either whole or piece by piece, and they themselves have either found other living arrangements or moved off island.
Suydam is requesting the borough rezone the property from R-3 multifamily to R-1 single family residential. In his application, he writes “the justification is to create a residential neighborhood that is safe for single family owned residencies and senior citizen owned residences,” and that the “previous R3 zoning trended to drugs and crime so rampant it was unsafe to live there.”
Suydam declined to comment when KMXT reached out to him
The P & Z meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the borough assembly chambers.
