Storage customers need to vacate soon

MEADOW LAKES — Folks with stuff stored at Caribou Storage off the Parks Highway near Church On the Rock have a limited amount of time to reclaim their property.

The state bought the facility to make room for the expansion of the Parks Highway between Miles 44 and 52.

“We heard about some concerns and they’re busy working with the owners and working with the customers out there,” said Jim Amundsen, who is heading up the expansion project. “We’re still working on contacting all of the tenants and if there’s a tenant that we haven’t contacted yet Donna’s the one they want to talk to.”

That would be Donna Williams with Dryden and LaRue. She’s at 646-5167 and can help you relocate your stuff if you qualify.

Amundsen said that storage units can be tricky.

“You’ve got a whole bunch of folks with stuff in storage there and tracking them all down can be real challenge,” he said.

Folks don’t always think to keep their contact information up to date. And a lot of people don’t have good contacts to begin with.

“It’s usually you put it in a locker because you’re in the middle of moving and you don’t have a new phone number yet,” Amundsen said.

As for security deposits, people who think the unit owes them money should call its former owner, Larry Wright at 208-442-1261.

This is the same project that has caused concern in Big Lake, Houston and Willow after it became known that the Mile 49 Cabins had also been purchased to make room for the road.

The cabins have long been an infamous magnet for bad behavior. When their owner started clearing land in Big Lake and Willow neighbors immediately started to worry that the cabins might show up.

The cabins’ owner, Mike Stephens told the Frontiersman and other media outlets that his plan is to sell the cabins. He’s already found buyers for some and hopes to get rid of them all. But he did not foreclose the possibility he would relocate them.

The state can’t buy them because they lack foundations and therefore are considered personal property — like a car or a boat — rather than real property like a home or a business.

But while this right-of-way acquisition process has been messy, Amundsen said that’s kind of how the process goes. He said he doesn’t consider either of those situations to be inordinately problematic.

“None of that happens fast and we’re working diligently and as best we can to get it done but none of it happens instantly,” he said. “This is the type of stuff that has to be worked out.”

He said he expects the expansion project will be buying right-of-way for one to three more years.

“It’s not like we just show up with our checkbooks say here’s what we’re paying out goodbye,’ He said. “Nobody wants the state showing up on their doorstep saying you have five minutes to make up your mind.”

Instead the state does appraisals, the owners do counter appraisals and negotiations ensue. Once everyone has decided what to do the state has to help relocate people.

He said he understands people would like to see a project move forward quicker than that.

But, “that doesn’t trump the individual’s right to have adequate time to go through a fair an equitable process,” Amundsen said.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.