LAGUNA BEACH : City Loans Trailer Park Group $150,000

Calling the pending purchase of Thurston Trailer Park by its residents a landmark case, the City Council has agreed to loan residents $150,000 to keep the deal afloat.

Until now, the real estate transaction, worth almost $1.5 million, has been secured with a $100 escrow deposit. With a deadline for depositing $150,000 in escrow quickly approaching--and another buyer waiting in the wings--park residents appealed for help to the council Tuesday night.

“The residents are a pretty diverse group,” said Sam Alessi, president of the Thurston Acquisition Assn., a group formed to buy the park. “But we do have one thing in common: Collectively, we can’t come up with $150,000.”

Thurston Trailer Park, made up of 26 mobile homes and three small cottages, is in Laguna Canyon, about 100 yards from the Sawdust Festival grounds. It is considered the least affluent of the city’s three such parks.

The trailer spaces, which rent for $450 to $550 a month, are considered low-cost housing, and 19 of the families who live in the park qualify for some type of low-income aid, Alessi said.

The City Council has protected the city’s trailer parks, which members consider an important part of the dwindling stock of low-cost housing.

“Without this purchase, I’ll be priced right out of my home . . . and I won’t be the only one,” resident Laurel Selin told the council.

Sue Loftin, an attorney for park residents, assured the council that the money will be repaid from loan sources when the park is purchased. The deal relies on $650,000 in state funding, which Loftin said should be confirmed today but will not be available in time for the Jan. 31 closing date.

The state funding was made possible because of the residents’ low-income status, Alessi said.

If the deal closes, park residents will own shares in the park.

Stung recently by voter rejection of Proposition A, which would have controlled rents in the city’s three trailer parks, the council voted unanimously to extend the loan to Thurston residents.

“It’s a landmark case for the city of Laguna,” Mayor Robert F. Gentry said.

Four years ago, Alessi said, he appealed to city officials for help when residents tried to buy the park from another owner for $1 million but were “flatly refused.”

On Wednesday, Alessi credited the council with keeping the current transaction alive. “Without the help from the city, we would have lost the deal,” he said.