Changes coming to Siesta, concerns remain

Editor’s Note: This is the third and final part of a new series examining living conditions at Siesta Mobile Home Park and residents’ organized efforts to talk to management about their grievances.

One of the changes that happened at the Siesta Mobile Home Park last year after some of the residents formed a tenants association was that management began meeting with residents. At one such meeting with the local managers, on March 15, residents heard about some changes coming to the park.

The lot rents will continue rising to keep pace with nearby mobile home parks and apartment complexes, the managers said. Meanwhile, each trailer is to get two parking pads, meaning that only two cars can be parked at each trailer. Some families have more than two cars, however, and one resident has a trailer with landscaping equipment that he wants to keep parked close to his home so it does not get stolen, as had happened in the past. There was talk of either providing space in a locking garage-like area at Siesta’s sister park on River Road, or of creating a small parking lot at the front of Siesta. Still, some residents would like to be able to park more than two vehicles at their trailers, and while an additional parking pad could be installed for a fee, the residents can’t take the pad with them if they move.

In an email to the Daily Record, Strive Communities Chief Operations Officer Jayson Lipsey wrote, “In most of our communities, parking pads that accommodate one to two vehicles is standard. Our main constraint with additional parking pads at Siesta is that, in many instances, we do not have room to add additional parking pads. We are happy to work with our residents on a case-bycase basis to fully understand their needs, and in some cases, a third parking space may be possible for an additional fee.”

Residents also heard about a new community standards booklet – 25 pages of rules pertaining to upkeep and other aspects of living at the park. “We use a standard lease document at our communities, which includes Community Standards,” Lipsey wrote in an email. “These standards exist to ensure that we are able to offer our residents a consistent experience in our communities.

As part of management’s efforts, maintenance workers will be going through the park to collect “junk” outside tenants’ homes – a prospect that made some members of the tenants association nervous.

Resolving lingering concerns

One of the residents’ longstanding concerns has been their water bills. The park is billed overall by the city, but each individual lot in the park has a meter, and residents are billed for their water use along with their rent each month. The park’s bills, obtained through an open records request, show fluctuations – out of 12 months, there were four months where the park’s water bills were 20 percent or more higher than in the previous month – but Lipsey said the fluctuations seemed normal for a property of that size.

If there were leaks beneath the park causing those fluctuations, he said, “We bear that cost. … The only thing we recapture is their actual consumption.”

As for the individual water bills, some residents have seen large month-to-month fluctuations. One resident, who is a member of the tenants association, saw a 107 percent increase in her utility bill over the previous month; several months later, her utilities were 80 percent lower than the month before. Two residents in the tenants association received a bill where their utilities were divided in two, and one had a note stating that they had just moved in, though she had been at her lot for years. Other residents said their meters haven’t been working; some have not received a water bill at all in months.

Lipsey said that he is aware of past issues with water meters at the park.

“I think that we’ve worked real hard to make sure that’s addressed,” he said, adding that residents with concerns about their bills or meters should contact management.

Another concern that residents have had since last year is the lack of an on-site office. Siesta residents have had to travel across town to a sister mobile home park on River Road to pay rent or take care of any other business in person. However, management is in the process of getting a new office in place at Siesta. Lipsey said that plans are to get it in place by June. A memo sent out by the local management said the office has been paid for.

Siesta management last year filed for a permit to demolish the old office at the park – which became infested by raccoons after it fell into disuse – last April. A new office building was brought in, but then moved out of the city. Management filed another permit on May 30 last year to install an office at Siesta, and that permit is listed as “dormant.”

Though management is making changes at the park, the residents say they remain uncertain about what will happen and when. Several days ago, the tenants association decided to plan another tenants meeting to discuss issues – including drainage problems that have emerged since the parking pads were installed. Lipsey has said that he and other executives from Strive Communities are willing to meet with the residents.