Management responds to Siesta concerns

Editor’s Note: This is the second part of a new series examining living conditions at Siesta Mobile Home Park and residents’ organized efforts to talk to management about their grievances. After organizing last year, the tenants association at Siesta Mobile Home Park was able to meet with the park’s new owners and get several management, health and safety issues resolved. However, a string of unfulfilled requests and unanswered questions has bred mistrust of management among some of the residents.

At least one member of the tenants’ association feels like she might have been targeted when her car was towed without being tagged or without her being notified. It is a new policy at Siesta to tow old and abandoned cars. However, resident Jacqui (members of the tenants association have requested that their last names be withheld for privacy reasons) said she was out of town when she found out the park was towing her Mustang, allegedly for being parked without current registration. Jacqui said she went around the park and spotted 16 other vehicles with expired tags or no tags at all.

“It made me really upset,” she said. “It made me question their motives.”

Some residents have even been concerned that the park will be sold out from under them and they will have nowhere to go.

Among the issues that remain unresolved at the park after a year are potholes, sewage leaks, poor drainage and gaps in the fence around the park, along with other problems with common areas and facilities. Moreover, though the tenants have mentioned these problems before, management has said there will be a $35 annual lot rent increase.

“They haven’t lived up to their part of the bargain,” one resident said.

However, the park managers say they are working to improve the park to make it more desirable.

Paving equipment waits to be put to use on park roads that need repair. 

New management

The current management company for Siesta, Strive Communities, took over in late 2018, more than nine months after the park was sold to Mothership Propco. Both companies share an address in Colorado.

“We’ve been at it for a little over 90 days,” Strive Chief Operations Officer Jayson Lipsey said in a phone interview.

Lipsey said that Strive is aware of previous problems at the park.

“We completely acknowledge and regret that things were managed the way they were in the past,” he said. “... We want to create a community where residents’ lives are better because of our involvement, not the opposite.”

Lipsey said that Strive intends to make capital improvements to Siesta, including repaving the roads and driveways, but fixing all of the issues with the park will take time.

“The plan for this community is to … deploy capital to this community in such a way that residents want to stay there for a long, long time,” Lipsey said, adding that there are no plans to sell the park.

“We consider ourselves long-term holders of real estate,” Lipsey said.

Some repairs are being made quickly. In mid-March, Siesta experienced a sewage leak similar to incidents that had occurred last year. Someone at the park alerted the city of San Marcos Neighborhood Enhancement Department to the issue.

“Stacy Wright, Environmental Health Manager, investigated the complaint approximately 30 minutes after the complaint was submitted,” the department said in an emailed statement. “Mr. Wright met with concerned residents and a representative of Strive Communities, the MHP [mobile home park] owner. The representative for the MHP communicated that repairs were underway and would be completed as soon as possible.

“Mr. Wright requested for interim cleanup measures to be implemented and a follow up communication from Strive Communities as to the actions being taken to resolve the sanitary sewer issue. Strive communities responded with documentation including an invoice in the amount of $10,000 to pay for replacement of approximately 88 feet of sanitary sewer line. On March 25, 2019, COSM Code Officers visited the location and confirmed that the work had been completed and no evidence of sewage discharge was observed.”

Lipsey said that Strive is cooperating with the city to address sewer repair needs.

“We have already resolved two major repairs, which involved replacing 240 feet of sewer lines in the last 30 days,” he said.

Trees in the park, many of which are overgrown and either brushing against residents’ houses or getting tangled in electrical wires, are due to be trimmed soon. Overgrown trees was another complaint the tenants association had last year; the city said its workers could not trim the trees back because they were on private property, but park management was not responsive when residents mentioned the overgrowth. Lipsey said Strive had scheduled tree trimming for this spring.

Road repairs are also underway at the park. Paving equipment moved in toward the end of March and work began shortly thereafter.

“We are planning fairly extensive road repairs to the community to improve conditions for our residents,” Lipsey said. “Additionally, we will be adding parking pads for each home. … While we know this will be disruptive in the short term, we sincerely hope our residents will be pleased with the improvements.”

Part 3 of this series will look at some of the proposed changes at Siesta and other specific issues the tenants association has mentioned.