City Aid Asked in Mobil-Home Park Purchase
Fearing a new owner would raise rents in Shorecliffs Mobile Home Park, residents have asked the city for help in obtaining $1.4 million in state aid to purchase the park.
“We’re doing this for security, to try to stabilize our future,” said Hilda Larson, a retired college administrator who serves on the board of the Shorecliffs Mobile Home Park Residents Assn.
Most of the 281 residents, who are required to be at least 55 years old to live there, agreed to buy the park for $12.7 million a year ago when the owner, Del Prado Co., first notified the association of its plans to sell.
Since that time, a few have left the 43-acre park overlooking the ocean, saying they didn’t want the problems associated with owning property, former association president Bill Smith said.
But those who have remained say they want to avoid being “clubbed” by developers who could increase rents in the park and force many to move.
As a result, residents have been working with the city, which is applying for a $400,000 loan and acting as co-applicant for a $1-million loan. Both loans carry low interest and would come from the state Housing and Community Development Department.
Acting as the state’s administrative arm for the loans, the city has set a $10,000 cap for costs it will absorb during the proposed purchase.
City Manager Mike Parness said the city would also benefit if the residents take ownership of the land.
“It’s in the city’s best interest because it gives us the assurance that there is going to be affordable, low-income housing,” Parness said.
The loans will help the park’s low-income residents purchase their individual plots. Other, less-needy residents are counting on private financing to buy their parcels.
Smith said the board hopes to take ownership by next March.
“We’re ready,” current association president Ben Hetherington said.
To date, board members say the process has gone smoothly, although the association and the Del Prado Co. are still working on details of the final purchase agreement.
