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Expansion may evict trailer residents Mail Tribune/Bob Pennell The Rogue Valley Manor has plans to build a hotel and office building on land where Colleen Alms� trailer is. Manor officials have no immediate plans to build the project and have said they will give Crest Imperial Mobile Estates residents a year�s notice to move out. By Jessica Smith Sheron Abrams and Colleen Alms don�t know where they�ll go if the Rogue Valley Manor decides to plow over their mobile home park to build a 150-room hotel and conference center. Though the women have known about the Manor�s plans for a few years, they say they�re afraid they�ll be kicked to the curb if the retirement center wins final approval next week on the last component of its expansion plan. "What we have here is people who worked all their lives for their homes who are being dumped out on the street," said Abrams, who moved in 1984 to Crest Imperial Mobile Estates on Ellendale Drive. "It�s a pretty desperate situation for the people who live here." Hoping to ease fears, the Manor insists it has no timeline for construction of the hotel or a two-story office building nearby. The city approved those projects in 1998; the rest of the plan heads back to the Medford City Council on Thursday for its consideration. There�s no doubt the 68 families who live at Crest Imperial, which the Manor bought six years ago, will be hurt by the expansion plan. They�ll have to try to sell their homes, or find a place to move them to. By law, the Manor is prohibited from picking up relocation costs, officials say. "So we�re kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place," said Alms, who bought her home seven years ago. Manor officials, meanwhile, say they�ve been upfront with residents and are doing what they can to help families. "They know it will not stay a mobile home park forever," said Jill Collins, executive vice president for Pacific Retirement Services, the Manor�s parent company. "We�ve gone out of our way to keep them informed." Residents are welcome to apply to live in the Manor�s low-income senior or multifamily housing, she said. Families will get a year�s written notice before construction begins. Abrams and Alms say they understand there�s nothing they can do to stop the Manor from shutting down the park, but they want city leaders and residents to understand yet another effect of the expansion plan. There has already been much talk about how the Manor�s proposal, which includes a commercial complex, would affect traffic in town. In addition to the hotel and office building, the Manor wants to build a restaurant, a 60-unit apartment complex, two mixed-use projects that combine housing and retail space, and a second office building. On Thursday the council is expected to hold a public hearing on the Manor�s commercial complex. The hearing begins at 7 p.m. in council chambers at City Hall, 411 W. Eighth St. The council agreed to hold the hearing, postponed several times because of delayed traffic studies, after the state Land Use Board of Appeals ruled the city incorrectly denied a portion of the Manor�s expansion plan. At the time of the denial, council members said they were worried how the expansion project would affect traffic congestion on local streets and at the freeway interchange on Barnett Road. State transportation officials who are working on a long-term fix for the interchange � they want to move it farther south to Ellendale Drive or Highland Drive � recently relaxed congestion standards to open the door to growth. The Manor, however, must still meet city standards. City planners and engineers say a traffic study conducted by the Manor shows the expansion would meet city guidelines if the following changes were made: � Make the southbound turn lanes from Riverside Avenue to Barnett Road exclusive to a left-hand turn. One of the lanes currently allows motorists to continue on Riverside. � Improve northbound and southbound pedestrian access to Highland Drive at Barnett Road and possibly replace signals at the intersection. Kara Peccia, a spokeswoman for the Manor, said the retirement center would be satisfied with conditional approval. "We just want to get it down on paper so we have some idea where we may go in the future. If the city wants to put a few conditions on it now ... that�s fine with us." Reach reporter Jessica Smith at 776-4481, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.