With rumors abuzz, many tenants at Island Cove Park are concerned about the possible future sale of the prominent property along the Animas River.
“We were all so shocked when the news hit,” said Cody Reinheimer, a resident since 2010 who is also the marketing manager for the Durango Farmers Market.
“This park represents affordable housing in Durango. A town can really lose its character when its workforce leaves. Real people make for a fun town. When real estate prices go up, the town loses its character. It’s a real issue in this town.”
Reinheimer said he has tossed around different ideas for housing if park management closes on the property, but he doens’t have a set plan.
By state law, management is required to give residents of the mobile park at least six months notice that a sale has been closed, but even that courtesy does little to ease circling uncertainties.
Most residents living at Island Cove Park own their mobile home, but that raises its own set of tough questions. If the unit is even able to move, how much would it cost to relocate, and with so few options surrounding Durango, to where?
A trailer at a set location can sell for about $10,000, but its blue book value alone drastically decreases, to only a couple hundred dollars. The cost of moving the unit can be several thousand dollars.
Ted Lambert, who has lived in Island Cove for 14 years, said he has seen a wave of neighbors sell their property after receiving a notice from management in May that the park was up for sale. A lot of those owners had made substantial upgrades to their trailer, and that price usually can’t be recouped.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work on our trailer, and now we don’t know what’s going to happen,” Lambert said. “We can’t move our (trailer). We’re just in a standstill now till something happens.”
Most of those homes recently have sold to new owners, seniors looking for something close to town, newly married couples saving up for a permanent home or to Fort Lewis College students.
But the majority of Island Cove Park tenants have been living in the small community for decades, and the prospect of moving creates a world of financial and emotional troubles.
Several residents, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said there is a palpable sense of “panic” and “fear” of what to do and where to go should the property sell.
Judy Gibble lived in Island Cove Park for nine years and just moved back in April. She’s less concerned about the sale but understands the conflict between the family’s right to sell and the long-time residents.
“A lot of older people here would have a really hard time,” she said.
For most Island Cove tenants, the only option is to hold out as long as possible, and hope the property doesn’t sell, or is sold to a new owner who intends to keep managing the mobile park.
“I feel like I’m back home,” Gibble said. “I just figure if I have to move, I’ll just move.”
Gibble said she is probably in the minority in terms of financial freedom to relocate. Other tenants, though in a “mobile home,” wish to stay grounded.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
