A mobile-home park dedicated to senior housing on Santa Barbara’s Eastside has gone up for sale, sparking fear in residents of its 69 units.
People living at the Flamingo Mobile-home Park at 1210 Cacique St. only learned of the park’s online listing this week.
They called an emergency meeting Wednesday in the community pool area to get some answers.
Elizabeth Keeter, who owns the park that has been around since the 1950s, did not show up to the meeting, where dozens of residents wondered where they or their aging parents on fixed incomes would live if a new owner gave them the boot.
According to the listing with Coldwell Banker George Realty, an offer is pending on the 5-acre property, which is listed at $10 million with a note that it has “future development potential.”
Up to 135 units could be developed on the Flamingo property, which has an average unit-size density overlay of 15 to 27 apartments or condos per acre, the listing states.
The listing agent didn’t return calls for comment. Keeter also couldn’t be reached for comment.
Flamingo resident Chris Barros said she spoke with Keeter, who lives nearby and inherited the park when her grandmother passed away.
Barros said Keeter told her that her intention wasn’t to have anyone lose their homes.
“We’re really here because we want to keep our homes,” said Barros, who first moved into the park in 1965 when it was for families. She moved back to care for ill parents nearly 10 years ago.
“We don’t know what motivated the sale of the land. We have a lot more questions than we do answers. There are so many variables it’s like crazy.”
Until now, residents had a false sense of security because their leases are through 2030, Barros said.
In mobile-home parks, which are regulated by the state, residents own their units but pay rent to live on the property.
A representative from the park’s longtime operators said he, too, was surprised by the sale and wanted to keep things as is.
Barros said she’s working with an attorney and the owner to figure out next steps.
Santa Barbara City Councilman Jason Dominguez came to reassure residents in his district that he would find some answers.
Drawing from his legal background, Dominguez said he would organize a meeting with the city attorney, other city staff and residents — hopefully by next week.
He said the state is in charge of the property until its status changes from mobile-home park.
“My mom’s on a fixed income,” one resident said.
Another lamented that many residents were in wheelchairs or on Medicare, noting relocation wasn’t plausible.
Others wondered if residents could buy the property or if new owners who didn’t kick them out would raise the rent.
“This is our home,” said a man whose family has lived in the park nearly 60 years. “All my memories are here. This is just thought for everybody.”
While one resident said the listing agent told him the new owner was open to continuing the use, another said after he called and pretended to be from an investment group, he heard the exact opposite — that residents would be sent packing.
City Attorney Ariel Calonne told Noozhawk he needed to go through city code before outlining what protections Flamingo residents might have if the park closes, since many cities have passed closure ordinances that provide relocation assistance or buyouts.
Much of Santa Barbara’s municipal code hasn’t been updated since the 1980s, he said.
— Noozhawk staff writer Gina Potthoff can be reached at gpotthoff@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.