Provo Canyon neighbors want mobile-home park watched

PROVO — A man representing a group of residents of Provo Canyon on Tuesday asked Utah County officials to continue monitoring a shuttered mobile-home park.

David Studdert, with the Provo Canyon Coalition, presented the Utah County Commission with a petition from permanent Provo Canyon residents.

The petition commended Commissioner Steve White, Utah County Sheriff Jim Tracy and Fire Marshall Dennis Barker for cleaning up Frazier Park. The petition asked that all Utah County officials be in alliance with the changes they made.

The mobile-home park had many problems with public-health and fire-code violations. After a bathroom fire in late December, Barker shut the power off and the county shut down the park. The owner was told he couldn't open the mobile-home park again until he brought the park up to code.

"I've come to know a lot of the families that live in Frazier Park," Studdert said. "The living conditions that they've been subject to are like a Third World country."

Studdert said that often the park didn't have electricity, water or bathroom facilities.

Tracy said the sheriff's office had to deal with a lot of violence and drug abuse in the park until it was shut down.

The park became not only a sanctuary for drug abuse, but an eyesore for the residents, with garbage piling up and improper disposal of sewage, Studdert said.