MARSHALL — The owners of the Broadmoor Valley manufactured home park in Marshall are applying for additional Minnesota Housing grant funding to improve infrastructure at the park. On Tuesday night, Marshall city staff said they would be willing to give support for the grant application in the form of work on existing city storm sewers that go through the park.

“We would propose that now is an excellent time for the city to partner with the park owner if he does an infrastructure project,” said Marshall Public Works Director Jason Anderson. “We would partner and cover the stormwater cost of our public main to the property. We would have the surface water utility participate in the same manner that it would on one of our reconstructs.”

Together with engineering staff time and having the Marshall city wastewater department investigate possible stormwater flow into sewer lines, the city work would have a value of about $160,000, Anderson said.

Anderson said the city would not be giving Broadmoor Valley owners cash up front. However, making improvements to city drainage systems in the area would provide a financial benefit.

Marshall City Council members voted in favor of providing the estimated $160,000 worth of financial support, as part of Broadmoor Valley’s Manufactured Housing Community Redevelopment Program grant application.

Earlier this year, Broadmoor Valley was one of a dozen manufactured housing communities in Minnesota chosen to receive state funding for infrastructure repairs. Broadmoor Valley was recommended to receive a $500,000 grant. Initially, that grant had raised questions for the city, Marshall City Administrator Sharon Hanson said.

“There was discussion about city support for the Broadmoor Valley manufactured housing grant application, and some prospective reporting that the city did not provide support. And that was true because we were not formally approached or requested to give support,” Hanson said. “This year there’s another grant cycle, and the owner of Broadmoor would like to apply … and he did formally request financial support.”

For the new grant application, city staff recommended giving support in the form of covering the cost of work on existing city drainage infrastructure.

“There is a public storm sewer that cuts through the park,” Anderson said. “There’s a ditch drainage way in the southeast corner of the park, and then it’s piped through the park to Minnesota Highway 23 and under the highway.”

Improving the city drainage infrastructure would also benefit Marshall as a whole, Mayor Bob Byrnes said.

Council member John DeCramer noted that the proposal was part of a grant application, and would have to go through an approval process. Plus, if the grant is awarded and accepted, there would be additional restrictions on Broadmoor Valley’s owners, he said.

“Some of those (restrictions) are that it will remain as a manufactured home park. The rents will remain in the low- to moderate-income. The rent increases will be capped, there is a 5% cap on that. And any transfer of ownership or sale of the park would have to be approved in writing prior to the sale by Minnesota Housing,” DeCramer said.

Marshall City Attorney Dennis Simpson said those conditions were also already in place along with the $500,000 grant Broadmoor Valley already received this year.

Bolton & Menk have been retained as engineers on the improvement project for the $500,000 grant, Simpson said.

“How far can you stretch $500,000 for infrastructure? That’s the big question, and that’s what’s under review right now,” he said.

Council members voted in favor of providing support for the new grant application. DeCramer abstained because of his involvement with Minnesota Housing.

The condition of roads at Broadmoor Valley, and fees charged for late rent payments, were the focus of a lawsuit filed against owner Paul Schierholz by the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office in 2021. That lawsuit is still ongoing, with trial dates scheduled in April 2023.