By PAUL WALKE
Plans for the new Provo city mall in the East Bay area are on track but some local residents are quite put off, literally.
The area zoned for the structure was previously a large trailer park that at one time contained 150 mobile homes. The land was purchased by the city and each resident of the trailer park was offered a price for their trailer or else the owners had to move to another park.
At least one of those residents, however, did not feel the city was fair in their prices or dealings with her and her neighbors. Margaret Dudley, 78, a five-year resident of the park, said the city offered her $9,000 for her mobile home and she refused, saying that it wasn’t high enough. Her next-door neighbor sold her home for $3,000.
“These are our homes. We bought and sacrificed for these, and the prices they gave us were ridiculous,” she said.
Construction on the new mall will begin in late February or early March, said Steve Gleason of the Provo office of economic development. It is scheduled to be finished in the fall of 1997. The tentative name for the new mall is the “Provo Fashion Mall,” and it is expected to be the largest mall in Utah.
Last week, Dudley’s mobile home was one of three that were still standing in the now desolate park. It was arranged for her to move to another trailer park after her refusal to sell.
“A lot of people are unhappy and it’s been a real mess. I hope it (the mall) sinks into the ground myself,” she said.
