4/7/08-14

To reopen, Frazier Park must comply Print E-mail
Rette Speight - DAILY HERALD

The Provo Canyon Coalition presented a petition to the Utah County Commission Tuesday morning asking officials to ensure complete compliance with codes before reopening Frazier Park.
The trailer park, located in Provo Canyon, caught fire in December and has been hidden by the snow since. Power had to be shut off to the park during the fire because power lines ran through its restroom, which was burned in the fire. The county then shut the park down until the owners could come up with a plan to reconstruct the building so that power could be turned back on.

But that has not stopped residents from trying to get back into the park, said Provo Canyon Coalition member David Studdert.

"The living conditions they've been living is like a Third World country," Studdert said.

Studdert's petition asks that the owners of the park be required comply with all zoning, health and safety requirements.

"We're just looking for the county to enforce its laws," Studdert said. "Right now, we're very concerned about the water quality, the electric situations, the fire hazards and the pollution to the Provo River it's causing."

The park's co-owner, Leon Frazier, said the park might not open until summer of 2009 or later.

"We just got into the wrong business, but we're closed now. No one is living in there. There are 'No Trespassing' signs all over the place," Leon said.

The trailers that burned were owned by Frazier and his brother, Kevin and were rented out to "trailer trash" tenants, said Leon. He said they were "bad tenants" and a "low-class type of crowd" who were constantly involved in partying and drug use, and some were in and out of jail. There were approximately 13 groups living throughout the park, and he had a hard time collecting rent from them, he said.

Adding to the current mess, Leon said, are the trailers that the brothers have started tearing out.

Leon couldn't estimate a cleanup cost, but will be doing the cleanup himself with the help of friends and his brother. The park had 24 trailers on the property when it caught fire. Leon said that there were some makeshift and illegal cabanas and he was struggling to keep tenants out of the park.

Leon claims that the county was unfair during the whole existence of the park, including problems when they were opening.

"They broke me," Leon said.
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