Sun-Sentinel 08/15/2006

Centex, Inc. was the previous developer after Coral Lake only the deal fell through.

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Residents' protests save mobile homes from wrecking ball
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By Andy Reid

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

August 15, 2006

Meadowbrook Mobile Home Park residents declared victory Monday in their fight to stop developers from bulldozing their affordable lifestyle.

After two years of residents writing letters to county commissioners and carrying protest placards, it took a cooling real estate market and lingering lawsuit to help persuade Centex homes to back out of a deal to buy the mobile home park near West Palm Beach and replace it with 588 townhouses.

Landowners Joseph and Eva Gyongyosi have a new $15.2 million offer from investors who would keep Meadowbrook a mobile home park, their attorney, Gary Gerson, said Monday.

The owners also are giving the Meadowbrook homeowners association until Sept. 22 to match the offer and buy the 83-acre park on Drexel Road, south of Okeechobee Boulevard.

The residents group plans to work with the county to buy the park. Even if residents come up short, fending off Centex likely means they can stay in their homes, association President Jim Howe said.

"We just stood firm," Howe said. "No one is going to be forced to move. ... We have accomplished what we needed."

State law requires developers replacing mobile home parks to produce a report showing that comparable affordable housing exists elsewhere for residents who would be displaced.

County officials and Meadowbrook residents disputed Centex contentions about the availability and affordability of alternative housing.

Despite the opposition, park owners and Centex were close to finalizing a deal this year until the residents went to court to try to win the chance to buy the land.

"We were a day from closing and the homeowners association filed the lawsuit," Gerson said.

The residents lost their legal challenge but appealed.

With home sales slowing and the litigation lingering, Centex decided to walk away, company spokeswoman Aimee Craig Carlson said.

Centex had offered to provide $2 million to help relocate about 300 residents, in addition to making state-required relocation payments of between $1,375 and $6,000 apiece.

The proposed townhouse project would have included homes priced in the county's "affordable" range -- a little above and below $300,000 -- but residents' opposition ultimately foiled the deal, Carlson said.

"We were committed all along to wanting to work with them," Carlson said. "This was an opportunity to kind of bring attainable housing to the market."

With development squeezing out more and more South Florida mobile home parks, this could be one of the few times residents actually get to keep their homes, said attorney Carl Casio, who represents the homeowners association.

"If we hadn't put up a barrier or a fight, they probably would have had all their units pre-sold by now," Casio said. "That was part of our strategy."

Andy Reid can be reached at abreid@sun-sentinel.com or 561-635-6747.

Copyright (c) 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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