Dickerson Pike Mobile Home Residents, Facing Displacement, Try To Negotiate Compensation From The Landowner

Nashville’s city council is buying more time for mobile home owners on Dickerson Pike.

This week, councilperson Sean Parker delayed rezoning so residents of the W.C. mobile home park could work out a deal with the land owner. For that, he was applauded by at least a dozen residents, who are his constituents, and organizers with Workers’ Dignity.

The Dickerson Pike mobile home residents organized a fundraiser on Monday to support their tenant’s union. They will be displaced if the Metro Council rezones the property and makes way for a two building mixed-use development.

Leslie Matute made the popular Honduran dish baleadas to help support the event. For her, the uncertainty brings back the stress she felt two years ago trying to create stability in a new country. “I feel like telling my kids that we have to find a new home is the hardest part of finding out the news,” she says through a Spanish translator.

Ambriehl Crutchfield WPLN News

Juana Soloman and Mariela Camaja relax while the Dickerson Pike mobile home owners host a fundraiser.

The council originally pushed off the vote in August after residents asked for a six month extension to find a new place to live. At that time, roughly 10 families had their trailers moved to a Hunters Lane property.

When mobile home owner Gisela Olalde arrived at the new site, she found out there was no electricity or water. She’s still waiting.

“It’s just affecting me in all the aspects of my life,” she says. “I don’t even have a place to cook. I’m just sleeping in my mom’s living room, going to work doing the same thing. I mean, my kids have no clothes, no toys.”

WPLN News reached out to Tony Clouse, the current land owner, but he declined to comment.

Now they’re asking the developer for up to $500,000 to cover the loss of their trailers that they’ve invested in. Worker’s Dignity organizers note that the total amount they’re requesting is roughly the cost of a single two-bedroom condo in the area.

Currently there’s a deadlock in negotiations and the council won’t discuss the rezoning until at least November.

On Tuesday, the council also took action that might help tenants in the future who find themselves in a similar position. They approved an ordinance that would require notice if a property is included in an application for an overlay district (except planned unit developments) or if there’s a rezoning of 10 or more parcels. If the property is a multi-family or mobile home park, a sign would be put up at the entrance.