A request from an Albert Lea mobile home park will likely face certain denial when it’s considered at Monday’s City Council meeting.

Sunday, August 08, 1999

A request from an Albert Lea mobile home park will likely face certain denial when it’s considered at Monday’s City Council meeting.

Countryside Hills Mobile Home Park is asking the council to wave an ordinance that prohibits RV camping in a manufactured home park, said City Manager Paul Sparks.

If the request is approved, as many as 60 RV’s would serve as homes for workers building a natural gas pipeline through the county. But the city would face a certain legal challenge, Sparks said.

Owned by Alliance Pipeline, the pipeline will extend from Canada to Illinois and cross seven Minnesota counties.

&uot;The request appears to be outdated, as we now understand that they are talking about three RVs per lot,&uot; Sparks said. &uot;There is no legal way we can wave (the ordinance). All we can do is waive enforcement.&uot;

Calls to Countryside Hills Mobile Home Park reached a fax machine Friday afternoon.

But Sparks said if the council waved enforcing the ordinance, the city would face a certain legal challenge from anyone opposed to the request.

&uot;There could be as many as 60 (RVs), but I think they will end up with zero,&uot; he said. &uot;We would get sued and we would have to pay their attorney fees as well as ours. Some attorney would get a gift if we violated our own ordinance.&uot;

To repeal the ordinance, the council would need to introduce a resolution setting a public hearing. If approved at a public hearing, the ordinance wouldn’t be repealed until 30 days after approval.

Representing Welded Construction, which is constructing the pipeline, Office Manager Dutch Rushmore said pipeline construction workers arrived in Albert Lea about two weeks ago. An out-of-area contractor, Welded recently opened an office at 2360 Becker Drive.

&uot;We have 300 people in the Albert Lea area,&uot; she said. &uot;That brings in a sudden burst of big business for motels, restaurants, grocery stores and bars. They come from all over the country and don’t go home on the weekends. A good percentage of these people have nice trailers.&uot;

Because RVs serve as homes to many of these people, she said the workers keep their RV’s well maintained.

But she said the council must do what’s best for Albert Lea.

The workers will find housing, she said. The construction is expected to last two seasons with workers leaving in the fall and returning in the spring.