HUNTINGTON BEACH : Mobile Home Owners Get City Loan to Help Study Park Purchase

Huntington Harbour Mobile Estates residents are getting some help from the city as they take the first step toward buying their mobile home park.

The City Council earlier this week agreed to give Huntington Harbour Mobile Estates Homeowners Assn. a redevelopment agency loan of up to $15,000 to pay for an appraisal of the park and an engineering study of the infrastructure.

The residents want to buy the property. If they are successful, it would be the city’s first resident-owned mobile home park. The city has 19 mobile home parks.

Resident Natalie Bartlett hailed the first step.

“Mainly we want to control the rents and the rules and regulations. There are so many rules and regulations park owners have, we can hardly breath,” said Bartlett, 82, a 24-year park resident.

Ray Manion, president of park’s homeowners’ association, said residents would have been unable to proceed without the city’s assistance.

“This will allow us to get started, and as a result, we will find out what the real value of the park is and then we will negotiate with the owner,” Manion said.

Les Frame Enterprises has offered to sell its leasehold interest for $60,000 a space, Manion said. There are 130 spaces in the park, on the edge of Huntington Harbour at Heil Avenue and Saybrook Lane. About 200 residents, age 55 and older, live in the park.

Manion said residents are now faced with rent increases of between 4% and 10% a year. Currently, monthly rents range from $515 to $595, he said.

“Once we acquire the park, our goal is to reduce the rent to below $500 a month,” Manion said.