Sun-Sentinel 05/11/2008Hillsboro Palms Mobile Home Park in Coconut Creek to close Hillsboro Palms Mobile Home Park in Coconut Creek to close Jerry Dion is running out of time to find a new home. He has to be out of his mobile home by the end of the year so the owner can knock the Hillsboro Palms Mobile Home Park down. He doesn't have enough money to buy a condo or rent an apartment. When asked where he will move, his answer is simply: "I have no idea. I've been looking. I could afford to buy this place, but I can't afford anything else. I have no money." On Monday, the South Florida Regional Planning Council voted to recommend a land-use change for the site. The developer wants to rezone the 23.6 acres from residential to commercial and turn that land, which sits next to a Wal-Mart Supercenter east of State Road 7, into a retail complex.The plan still needs approval from the Broward County Planning Council, the Broward County Commission and the City Commission. There are no plans submitted to City Hall yet, but attorney Dennis Mele, who is working for the developer Hillsboro Associates, said plans call for a 192,000-square-foot shopping center with retail and restaurants. The complex also could include office spaces. Mele said if the plans to turn the area into commercial property don't materialize, the owner could redevelop Hillsboro Palms as a residential property, which the zoning already allows. The area could become townhouses as a last resort. Hillsboro Palms will close on Dec. 31, he said. It will be the second mobile home park closing in Coconut Creek in recent years: the 280-unit Coral Lake Mobile Home Park at Wiles and Lyons roads was shut down, and townhouses are being built there. Hillsboro Palms was developed as a 184-lot mobile home park for seniors 55 and older. Only about 112 lots remain occupied. Residents' choices include relocating to a few of the other mobile homes in the area, such as Deerfield Lake Mobile Home Park or Tallowwood Mobile Home Park, both in Coconut Creek, or Coral Cay Plantation Mobile Home Park in Margate. Dion bought his two-bedroom home for $5,500 in May 2007 — just three weeks before he found out the park would close. It's a quiet park where neighbors ride three-wheel bicycles and spend their afternoons at the community pool or playing cards in the clubhouse. "It's very stressful," he said. "I'm awake all the time thinking about it." Even though his neighbors have received lots of notice, many of them can't decide what to do either. Luella Wolf, for example, said she has no intention of going anywhere. The 81-year-old said her health "is not well" and has no plans of leaving her home of eight years. "We were sold out," she said. "We got a bum deal." Theresa Dumas, 77, has lived in the park for 20 years and is trying to find an apartment comparable to the $500 she pays in rent here. "I've applied to an apartment in Delray; I'm waiting for an answer," she said. "The apartment [prices] are terribly high. People on Social Security, that's all they get is their check. "I'm terribly hurt. You live somewhere for 20 years and then they say you've got to leave. It's heartbreaking, that's all I can tell you." Doris Preneveau, 83, has already started to pack her belongings. Twenty-five years ago, she bought her two-bedroom home for $16,000 and pays about $530 a month in rent. Five of her friends from Hillsboro Palms have headed north to a mobile home park in Lakeland and she plans to follow them there. She has purchased a $14,000 pre-owned mobile house in that complex and she plans to leave in June. Her television set, patio furniture, kitchen table and rocker have already been moved, thanks to her son and a U-Haul. She'll leave the refrigerator, couches and beds behind because her new unit came furnished. Her 1970s wood paneling stays, too. It'll be up to the owners to figure out how to clear it away. "This is where my husband died," she said sadly. "Like my son said, I can always take the memories with me." Still, she'll miss Hillsboro Palms. "People here are very friendly," Preneveau said. "It's a nice park. But I understand business. He [the owner] can make money, I don't blame him. But I don't like the idea I have to move." Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sun-sentinel.com or 954-572-2008. Copyright © 2008, South Florida Sun-Sentinel Visit Sun-Sentinel.com
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