ARNOLD — On the day after the Fourth of July, Jhon Rios got a lesson in American freedom.
Rios is from Colombia originally. He moved to the U.S. in 1989, got married and became an American citizen. He works in the healthcare industry now; previously, he was a pastor of a Christian church.
Rios and his wife, Alicia, own a home in the Ozark Hills Mobile Home Park. They came to Missouri from Texas in 2023 to be closer to their daughter in college. Their home is the nicest one in the park, though it didn’t used to be that way. That’s the Rios’ problem.
On July 5, a city of Arnold employee visited them and said they had two weeks to move the home, vacate it or be kicked out by police. Their violation? The repairs to their mobile home were done without the proper permits. And even if they had applied for the permits, they would have been rejected because the amount of money the couple put into the home was more than they paid for it.
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That’s right, Arnold has an ordinance that says if a building is ever declared “dangerous†because of its dilapidated state, and the repairs would cost more than 50 percent of its value, the building must be demolished.
Rios and his wife didn’t know about that law when they bought their home. They moved to a mobile home park because they didn’t want a mortgage. The home they bought was run down; they knew it had been condemned at one point. But the previous owner had started making repairs. Jhon and Alicia finished the job. They added a new roof and siding, upgraded electrical and plumbing work and replaced siding, drywall, doors and windows.
There is now a remodeled kitchen, new flooring and nice furniture. They added a carport, too.
They made a home.
“We made it look so much better,†Rios told me last week.
When Rios found out there was an issue with permits, he went to City Hall. He was willing to pay for permits and have the home inspected. The city said no. Officials told him about the so-called “50 percent†rule. They told him to vacate.
“We’re frozen,†Rios says. “We don’t know what to do. It’s like they don’t want it to be improved.â€
That’s exactly the case, alleges Rob Rosenfeld. He’s the owner of Ozark Hills. Like most mobile home park owners in Arnold, he has been at war with the city over its regulations, which make it impossible to improve mobile homes. The homes eventually fall apart, and the city can ultimately use them for some other purpose.
“It’s been one thing after another with the government in Arnold,†Rosenfeld said. “They don’t want nice mobile homes and nice people in mobile homes … They are doing everything they can possibly think of to drive out of their city all mobile homes and the people residing in them.â€
The city is being sued in state and federal court by a different mobile home park, called Ozark Mobile Home Park, LLC. The lawsuit alleges that the city’s ordinances are unconstitutional.
“The City’s disparate and discriminatory treatment of manufactured home parks as compared to similarly situated properties is not the product of a mistake — it is an intentional act designed and intended to regulate manufactured home parks out of existence,†the lawsuit alleges.
It is similar to a lawsuit filed by another mobile home park — Jeffco Estates — which was dismissed earlier this year. The owners of Jeffco Estates say they plan to re-file the lawsuit at a later date.
Rosenfeld, too, promises new legal action to protect the Rios family and their home.
“It’s inconceivable to me that the Rios can be forced to move their home out of the city of Arnold because they made it too nice,†Rosenfeld says.
But that’s precisely the case, says Arnold’s city administrator, Bryan Richison.
“Because the work was done without permits, we weren’t able to inspect it,†Richison says. “We don’t know what was repaired and how it was repaired.â€
The permits, though, are mostly a ruse. Richison admits the city would never issue permits for the work because the building was declared “dangerous†under its previous ownership.
“They’ve invested more than 100 percent what they paid for it,†Richison says. “We would never have allowed the repairs to proceed.â€
Richison said the city has backed off its initial deadline. “We’re giving them time,†he says. “We understand they’re in a really difficult situation.â€
In his more than two decades in America, Rios has never experienced anything like this.
“For one person to have the power to do so much damage is incredible,†Rios says of the building inspector who told them they had to leave their home or face a police raid. “I feel like getting a bit piece of cardboard and standing on the highway and telling people about it.â€
“We fixed our house,†the sign could read. “The city said it was too nice.â€