Rexburg City Council approves plat change for Brigham’s Mill

REXBURG, Idaho (KIFI)- Rexburg City Council approved a plat change proposal to change a Brigham Young University Idaho housing complex into community housing.

Residents at Brigham's Mill were previously told to be prepared to move out by April 8th.

Brigham's Mill co-owner Ryan Nelson explained their reasoning, citing a surplus of student housing and not enough for everyone else.

"We've got waiting lists of people that are trying to find available housing. When you look at for sale product for people that want to own this under $300,000, there isn't anything," Nelson said.

Nelson also said he doesn't think other property owners will follow their lead.

"I'm all for people having their rights and trying to do what they can with their own properties," Nelson said. "I do think it's worth speaking to the fact that this is very challenging to get a condo plat done, just the engineering alone. Then of course meeting all the requirements for parking, green space, etc., etc... It's far from a 'just because someone wants to do it'."

Nelson added while the solution works for them, it might not work for others.

"The other piece that we haven't even talked about is that most of these properties have debt," Nelson said. "That becomes a very difficult requirement when you're trying to reconvene a single unit, for example, and you still have collateral on other properties. Most lenders won't go for that. We have found a solution around that, but that's not a solution that would work across the board."