West residents could find themselves in a new place closer to home.
The Long Term Recovery Center and the city of West are in the preliminary stages of possibly bringing in modular homes for residents displaced by the April 17 explosion. Officials at the LTRC and the city say there's still a lot of things to figure out, but the early plans show 40 homes brought in with each holding two families.
Each family would get three bedrooms and two baths in a single story home. The city and the LTRC is working to figure out the logistics of holding all these homes. They have to find a place to hold them, a way to get utilities to them and a way to pay for them. While they would borrow the homes from Fort Hood, they would have to pay to get the homes into West. That could cost around $4,000 per home, a total of $160,000.
To figure all of this out, the LTRC and the city is organizing a meeting to bring everyone together Monday, June 10. Karen Bernsen with the LTRC says they will figure out if and how they can bring in the homes.
"We're trying to get all these people together to see if there's a way to get residents to be able to come back, to be able to be closer to rebuilding their homes. Getting back to school so that they don't have to drive so far, going back to their churches, lunches everyday at the community center that kind of thing," Bernsen said.
Bernsen says one option for a place to put the homes would be a plot of land behind the Church of Christ near the Community Center in West. The homes would be temporary with between a six to 18 month span. However, after they are gone, the church could use the water and power hookups for a future RV spot.
Mayor Tommy Muska says the city does not have the money to pay for all of the transportation cost. Not just to get them to West, but to bring them back as well. Muska also says FEMA would not pay for them because he says residents can already get temporary housing within a 15 minute drive from West.
Bernsen says they will figure out how to pay for everything after they figure out if it can even work.
