Paul Schierholz (in foreground), stockholder of the company that owns the Broadmoor Valley mobile home park in Marshall, was part of the crowd gathered at a Marshall City Council meeting Tuesday. An audience including residents of Broadmoor Valley and area community members all came to show support for keeping the park open. Schierholz and Associates have announced their intent to close the park in 2025.

MARSHALL — Part of the Marshall City Council meeting on Tuesday was standing-room only, as people gathered for a discussion on the planned closure of the Broadmoor Valley mobile home park. A crowd of more than 40 listened as a spokesperson for Broadmoor residents, and park owner Paul Schierholz, addressed council members.

“We are in a desperate situation,” said Deb Ertl, a member of the Broadmoor Valley residents association. “We need the city of Marshall to be courageous and act aggressively. So, don’t allow Schierholz to close Broadmoor Valley.”

Schierholz said factors like a lack of funding to fix the infrastructure at Broadmoor Valley were behind the decision to close the park.

“There’s a lot of confluence of situations that got us to this point,” he said. “I, over the years, have been encouraged to, by people from the city, et cetera, to close the community. And I’ve resisted that.”

Council members didn’t respond to the two speakers, or open the floor to more members of the public Tuesday.

“This is not a public hearing,” Mayor Bob Byrnes explained to the audience. “But because of the interest that’s here, I’ve talked to a representative of the homeowners association and a representative of the owner, who can make a statement.”

The task before the city council was to set a date for a public hearing, Byrnes said. Council members voted to call for a hearing on the Broadmoor Valley closure at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 18, at the Marshall Middle School auditorium.

In November, the city received notice from Schierholz and Associates that they planned to close Broadmoor Valley in December 2025. Under state law, the city is required to hold a public hearing on the planned closure.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Ertl urged the city not to allow Broadmoor Valley to close. In recent years, Schierholz and Associates entered into a contract for grant funds that placed a covenant on Broadmoor Valley, saying the land must be used as a manufactured home park for 25 years, she said.

“The city council has the power to act on behalf of many residents of the city of Marshall. That includes the residents of Broadmoor Valley,” she said. Ertl urged the city to deny the closure, or investigate other ways to intervene on residents’ behalf.

“Can the city step in to take control over the infrastructure, public streets, municipal utilities? Is eminent domain an option?” she asked.

At this point, two different offers to purchase Broadmoor Valley have also been made on behalf of the residents, Ertl said.

“The residents are willing to take care of our homes and neighborhood,” she said.

Schierholz also spoke to council members. He said Broadmoor Valley is owned by Schierholz and Associates, Inc., and he was the stockholder of the corporation.

Schierholz said there were a combination of factors preventing him from making updates to Broadmoor Valley. The park’s infrastructure had not been designed properly to begin with, he said. “The city’s had a problem with it before I even owned it, and then it’s never really been addressed properly,” he said.

“We are licensed and regulated by the Minnesota Department of Health, and we get regular inspections, and we were under the state statute,” Schierholz said. He said the streets at Broadmoor Valley met the Department of Health’s standards. “The Minnesota Department of Health has not fined us, threatened to fine us, caused a re-inspection or anything like this, for compliance with the Minnesota Department of Health rules.”

“Frankly, the water system, electrical system and the sewer system is all working,” he said. “The roads are passable and meet state law. However, if everybody wants it to be nicer, somebody’s got to come up with some way of getting more funds.”

Schierholz said he had applied for and was awarded a $500,000 state grant to help improve infrastructure at the park in 2021, but was denied additional funds when he applied in 2022 through 2024. “Our conclusion was, after all of that, is the fact that Minnesota Housing does not want to fund Broadmoor Valley, so therefore we put out the park closure letter.”

While the city did not directly respond to Ertl or Schierholz, Marshall City Attorney Pam Whitmore did explain the city’s role in the planned closure of a manufactured home park. Under state law, the city needed to hold a public hearing and do other tasks related to the closure process.

“The statute loops in the city when these notices get sent, as . . . a host for a public hearing,” Whitmore said. “So the public has the opportunity to come to a forum and discuss the impact of the intended closure.”

A quorum of the city council is required to be at the hearing, Whitmore said. At the hearing, the city will also need to appoint a neutral third party to serve as an arbiter for some of the decisions that would need to be made in the park’s closure process. “The homeowners in that park, and the residents, will have the opportunity to submit information to that third party and to seek financial assistance from a housing trust that is set up and administered by Minnesota Housing,” she said.

Marshall City Administrator Sharon Hanson said the city was planning to hold the hearing at the middle school auditorium, so there would be more room.

“We maybe anticipate higher attendance at this particular public hearing,” Hanson said.

City staff also suggested holding the hearing on Feb. 18, to go along with the council’s usual practice of holding meetings on Tuesday nights.

Council members voted to call for the hearing at the suggested date and location.