Burned out trailer under Kansas City bridge was bought from Heart Village park: officials
An abandoned trailer found burned out underneath a Kansas City bridge last week was purchased from Jackson County less than two months ago and came from Heart Village mobile park, officials determined Monday.
Jackson County Administrator Troy Schulte said in a statement Monday that the trailer had been bought and removed by a third party on June 12, referencing county records. The people who resided in the trailer while it was on the mobile park site had secured new housing in March, Schulte said.
“County staff have contacted city officials and offered to assist in their investigation as well as the removal of the trailer and the cleanup of the site,” Schulte added.
Kansas City and Jackson County officials began looking into the matter after firefighters were dispatched last week to extinguish a blaze there. On Monday, a city investigator for illegal dumping was called out to determine how the home ended up under the 23rd Street bridge near Manchester Trafficway in the city’s Blue Valley Industrial area.
County officials did not disclose Monday who bought the trailer. The Kansas City investigator learned that a nearby business had reported that people were living there when the trailer caught fire, though it remained unclear who those people were, said John Baccala, a city spokesman.
Baccala also said a salvage and wrecking company had been hired to clean up the charred remains of the trailer, saying Jackson County would pick up the tab. An exact cost estimate for that work was not immediately available.
Over the past year, Jackson County has offered relocation assistance to residents of Heart Village to make way for a new county jail expected to cost around $260 million. The county bought the park, which sits on a 107-acre piece of land, for roughly $7 million.
County officials have said at least $2.5 million was spent on relocation efforts since last summer as renters and homeowners have on average received between $15,000 and $20,000 for moving costs. As of May, all but seven households had left the park.
The Star’s Andrea Klick contributed to this report.
