Arnold city officials are trying to get the owners of a former mobile home park off Tenbrook Road to complete demolition work at the site.
City Council members voted 7-0 during a special June 13 meeting to approve a contract with Tubbs and Son Construction of Lonedell to remove concrete pads and the street at the former Abram Trailer Court, 1 Abrams Court.
If Arnold has to proceed with that demolition contract, it will cost $50,500 for the work, according to city documents.
The city will try to recoup the cost from the owners, and if they don’t pay, then a lien will be placed on the property, Community Development Director David Bookless said. However, city officials hope the property owners, Ronald and Kimberly Wilkey, will get the demolition completed.
The Wilkeys already removed mobile homes from the park after the city deemed the structures unsafe and dangerous, but the street and concrete pads have not been removed from the area, city documents show.
“This is our way of saying you need to finish the job with the concrete and asphalt street, or we are going to come in and do it for you,” City Administrator Bryan Richison said.
Bookless said the process to remove the mobile home park and return the property to its natural state started some time ago.
“The whole process began in late 2021,” he said. “The owner was cooperative and made slow, but steady progress cleaning up the derelict trailers. There were some folks living in a couple of trailers that were in good shape, and he had to work around them, but they eventually moved out and removed their trailers.
“Then the idea of redevelopment came up and design professionals became involved, and we were willing to work with the owner to get that done. Eventually, (progress) slowed and left us where we are today.”
Richison said Arnold officials thought it was a great idea for the owners to redevelop the property into a subdivision.
“We were like, ‘If you are going to do that, we will give you some leeway,’” he said. “Building houses or whatever would require clearing that concrete anyway.”
Bookless told the City Council there appears to be no progress to redevelop the property, adding that the city plans to contact the property owners this week to see if they will take care of the remaining demolition work.
“The property owners had been cooperative,” Richison said. “We hope they will resume being cooperative and will do it themselves. If they don’t, we now have the authority to take care of it.
“We are hopeful this will spur them to resume that cooperation.”
The City Council held the special meeting after a scheduled work session on June 13, and the regular council meeting, which would have been held today, June 20, has been canceled.
Ward 4 Councilman Butch Cooley was absent from the June 13 meeting.