PortlandTribune reports from Portland, Oregon a plan by the city to annex west Hayden Island and build three marine terminals on the Columbia River has run into opposition from residents of a nearby manufactured home community as well as environmentalists and island residents. Lame-duck Portland Mayor Sam Adams had the measure on his bucket list before leaving office at year’s end, and has been seeking quick approval of the annexation and zoning change from the City Council. The plan would preserve 500 acres of urban forest and create a 300-acre industrial zone with hundreds of high-paying industrial jobs. To ease his critics, Adams proposed the Port of Portland put up $32.6 million to ease environmental and health impacts, something the Port is reluctant to do without a guarantee of tenants paying rent. Only a half mile from the MHC, a health impact study says diesel fumes from trains and trucks could triple the amount of cancer causing toxins in the air, which could be especially harmful to the 1,200 residents of the MHC, many of whom are older and on fixed incomes. Adams suggested the Port pay $3.6 million to the city’s Housing Bureau to relocate or replace some of the MH, or to better insulate the homes as a way to solve the potential health risks, MHProNews has learned. Residents are also concerned the marine terminals would devalue their homes, making them more difficult to sell, and more likely to be abandoned if the occupants decide to leave.

(Photo credit: localism/Melody Lakes Country Club Estates)