Sun-Sentinel 11/16/04

Cornerstone Group Inc. was the previous developer after Coral Lake only the deal fell through.

-------------------- Trailer community in Boynton may be wiped out by townhomes --------------------
By Beth P. Krane
Staff Writer

November 16, 2004

Boynton Beach -- Residents at decades-old Boynton Mobile Village fear they could be homeless if plans to build new townhomes on the property win approval, saying they can't take their aging trailers with them and little relocation help exists.

A Coral Gables-based developer has the mobile home park under contract and plans to build 180 townhomes on the land, which houses 91 families, many of whom say they barely squeak by with low-paying jobs or their disability and Social Security checks.

Cornerstone Group Inc. needs the 10-acre park rezoned before it can build its townhomes, but the city's Community Redevelopment Agency delayed the company's request for two months because it became apparent at a meeting last week that the developer had not met with the residents who stand to be displaced. More than 30 of them attended the meeting, some pleading for their homes.

"I'm hearing a real need for assurance right now," CRA Chairwoman Jeanne Heavilin said. "If I were living in this community, I'd be scared to death right now."

Eric Accime, a Cornerstone project manager, pledged to work with the residents, including looking into existing programs that could help them buy one of the new townhomes, but many of the residents said afterward it is unrealistic to think that they would be able to buy one of the homes.

Under state law, mobile home owners can receive up to $3,000 to move a single trailer or a maximum of $6,000 to move a doublewide trailer. It is unlikely, however, that many residents in the more than 30-year-old park would be able to move their aging trailers. A Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles advisory released last month restricts the relocation of trailers built before 1994 because they do not meet current safety requirements. The department is reviewing its release, a spokeswoman said.

Residents forced to abandon their mobile homes because of the rule would receive only $1,375 for a single or $2,750 for a doublewide trailer from the park owner or developer through the Florida Mobile Home Relocation Corp.

Many residents said that amount wouldn't even cover their moving expenses, let alone make up the difference between the $380 a month they pay to lease their lots and rent at the most reasonable of Palm Beach County apartment complexes.

"I'm not giving up my home for $1,300," said Lillie Stark, who moved to Boynton Mobile Village four years ago and last year paid off her loan on the $6,000 trailer. Stark, 56, said she and her husband live on her disability checks and his Social Security income.

State law requires municipalities to have evidence that there are affordable alternatives for displaced residents before they rezone mobile home parks. Heavilin said the CRA held off on Cornerstone's proposal to give it time to develop such a plan.

"I want some assurance that these people are going to be taken care of somehow," she said. "But I don't know what that somehow will be."

Lenny Wolfe, president of Cornerstone Group Developments, a division of Cornerstone Group, said the company has three apartment complexes set aside for residents with low incomes, but rents at all three run from $575 to $775. The townhomes the company plans to build on the mobile home site will cost from $170,000 to the low $200,000s, he said.

"We'll do the best we can and will put together as many options as we can," Wolfe said.

Resident Jim Roth said it upset him to hear the developer suggest he or his neighbors could return to purchase one of the new townhomes in a year or two.

"Where are they going to find everybody a year or two from now? On the street. That's where they'll be," he said.

Roth's neighbor David Fine, 59, said he views the two-month delay as an "appeasement," but he plans to fight the development.

"I don't think they heard us say we don't want to move," Fine said after the meeting. "We're going to form a committee, and we're going to fight this down to the wire."

Fine said he is searching for an attorney to take the residents' case for free because he thinks they would have a case if they city rezoned the property and many of the residents ended up homeless.

"This is just the beginning of what we've seen happening in Boca Raton and Delray Beach and across the county," Fine said.

In Boynton Beach, another longtime mobile home park is under contract. The city is reviewing plans submitted by Lennar Homes to build condominiums on the waterfront Seaview Park Club property. In unincorporated Palm Beach County, Centex Homes is awaiting rezoning approval to turn another mobile home park into townhomes.

"From what I hear, not a month goes by that I don't hear of one, two, three parks being redeveloped," said Don Hazleton, president of the Federation of Mobile Homeowners.

Frank Williams, executive director of Florida Manufactured Housing Association, said at least 1,000 mobile homeowners are displaced each year.

"It's a phenomena," Williams said. "It's part of progress, the march of development. I just wish there were some way to fix it."

Beth P. Krane can be reached at bpkrane@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6631.

Copyright (c) 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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