MHProNews has learned from the Orlando Sentinel that a developer who was denied the right to site 1,500 manufactured homes in Volusia County on Florida’s east coast on a 1,033 acre tract in 2002 is trying again. Plantation Oaks of Ormond Beach LLC would border a very scenic route of overhanging oak trees along Old Dixie Highway, state parks, and beaches and wetlands. When owners of homes that sell in the $200,000 to $400,000 range filed a lawsuit ten years ago, the development was shelved, and county officials approved 1,577 single-family homes that were never built because of the economic downturn. Rick Smith says, “We tolerated the fact that there would be homes built there, and we settled our lawsuit based on the fact that they took mobile homes off the table.” The plan calls for multi-section homes for an MH community of 55 and older residents with patios and garages, with a price range of $80,000 to $140,000. Jim Morris, attorney for the developer, says, “Denying this request denies my client the opportunity to do something positive economically.” Jim Ayotte, executive director of the Florida Manufactured Housing Association (FMHA), says the trend has been for MHCs to be developed into conventional homes. But he notes there is pent-up demand for manufactured housing “because 10,000 people in America retire each day, and these communities are a good option for them.”
