Mobile home owners OK with report

Deirdre Newman

The relocation saga of the El Nido and Snug Harbor mobile home owners

ended much more peacefully than it began.

The City Council approved the relocation impact report for the

Snug Harbor Village and El Nido Trailer Parks on Monday.

Joe Brown, the owner who’s closing the parks to build a four-story

medical office building, prepared the report.

The bitterness and frustration that marked previous discussions

about the relocation offer were largely absent Monday as the mobile

home owners instead peppered the council with specific questions.

Irene Shannon, an El Nido resident, said she felt the city has come a

long way since she and her fellow mobile home owners complained that

the relocation offers last year were unfair.

“I think all the work and community involvement over the last year

has ended with the council being much more aware that mobile home

parks are a different business and a different place to live,”

Shannon said. “This has been a learning experience for the city and

will help other parks with closing.”

Barry McDaniel, chief executive of the company that provided the

relocation report, said he was pleased with the council’s decision.

“We’re delighted,” McDaniel said. “I thought it was a fair

assessment from the city staff and the third-party peer review.”

In May, Brown gave the mobile home owners and renters a one-year

written notice of his intent to close both parks by June 1, 2004. The

city does not have any regulations that require park owners to obtain

city approval before closing parks. Brown is only required to follow

state laws covering mobile home park closures.

State law requires the owner of a park to prepare a relocation

impact report before closing or converting a park to another use. The

goal of the report is to determine the reasonable costs of relocating

the mobile home parks’ residents to another suitable location.

According to state law, cities must review these relocation

reports and decide if they do provide the reasonable costs of

relocation. In July, the City Council commissioned a third-party

independent review of the adequacy and accuracy of the report. The

review found that the report was complete and accurate, City Planner

Kim Brandt said.

Brown is offering to sell one-bedroom 2001 models -- set up in

another park located within 30 miles -- to mobile home owners whose

trailers can’t be moved. These trailers would cost $12,000 if paid

for with cash and $15,000 for a long-term payment plan. Brown is

offering a relocation benefit of $3,000 for single-wide trailers and

$6,300 for double-wide mobile homes.

There are 24 remaining mobile home owners who haven’t relocated.

Of those, only three have not yet reached an agreement, Brandt said.

The council added two conditions to its approval -- all relocation

offers need to be made in writing and all relocations have to be done

by licensed moving companies with appropriate permits.

“It’s been a difficult learning process for us,” Mayor Gary

Monahan said.