The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Valley-wide efforts to rally around community
By Katherine Nettles
The mobile home park formerly known as Country Meadows north of Gunnison has been listed for sale for the second time in three years, and residents have asked for community help in providing basic measures of health and safety, and perhaps, another shot at purchasing the property for themselves to secure their housing. And for the second time in three years, the community is rallying to try and help—this time, with more experience and perhaps more resources.
Ski Town Village LLC, the company that purchased the park in 2022 from former owner River Walk, LLC, listed the property for sale on June 21 for $5.7 million. It had purchased the property for $2.9 million in April 2022. There are an estimated 350 to 400 residents at Country Meadows, many of whom own their mobile homes but not the property beneath them. There are some residents who rent the mobile homes as well. The property is 11.5 acres with gravel roads, 57 mobile home units, a storage/maintenance building and one four-bedroom house.
According to its listing on LoopNet, the rents are going up again throughout the park beginning September 1.
Additionally, the real estate listing states, “As trailers sell to new owners, the rents are being brought to fair market rent. Five lots are currently rented for $725 and rent for new tenants is $800.” It notes that “Gunnison County has a very tight housing and rental market and this property stays leased.”
During the Gunnison County commissioners meeting on Tuesday, July 2, residents and advocates of the park showed up to ask for support.
Elizabeth McGee spoke first. McGee is a Country Meadows resident and president of the nonprofit association Organización de Nuevas Esperanzas (ONE), a board that formed in the summer of 2021 to advocate for mobile home residents and educate them about their rights.
“We have been working for the residents of our community for the last three years under circumstances that I think everyone is familiar with,” said McGee. This has included a rent hike of more than 70% in 2022 immediately after Ski Town Village purchased the park, and more recently, electrical surges and outages.
“We have appreciated the actions of county and [city of] Gunnison staff, the dedication of community organizations, individuals, businesses, volunteers and reporters that have tried to keep our story alive. We face a challenge where city and county codes do not best serve our unique situation of private ownership of land with individual residential home ownership,” said McGee.
She then described how, beginning in February 2024, the electric services reaching 13 homes at Country Meadows became unreliable. “My home was included,” she said. “This is an active, ongoing issue of not having safe electrical management, sending power surges to other homes, blowing out lines and dangerous temporary solutions. We are grateful for the state mobile home oversight program, and the accountability that requires for safe living conditions. We know the infrastructure needs in our park far exceed what any private investor would ever take on without serious expense to the residents.”
McGee said it was a surprise to residents that the park was listed for sale in June, and they are looking for long-term solutions and to pursue community ownership of the land beneath their mobile homes. She said this would likely be a co-investment with the county, nonprofit organizations and the residents.
McGee said the residents have noticed the county’s recent investments in housing and land banking throughout the valley. “So, we’re just here wondering, what about us?” she said.
Her two-fold request was for continued attention to the electrical issues, which the county has been aware of and is working with the state to address, and for a commitment to the long-term security and stabilization of the park.
“We need municipal investments in the land, and willingness to pursue a proposal with state and community partners,” she concluded.
Gunnison County resident Annie Beal, who has been involved with ONE and the residents of the park for years, also spoke during unscheduled public comment.
“We need a better future for this mobile home park, for our neighbors and friends. I’d like our community to think big and act big. We have such potential to put our unique Gunnison problem-solving skills into action into what is a local, state and national problem,” she said.
Beal encouraged commissioners to work on a unique solution for community ownership. “There are now more resources than ever emerging for municipal, nonprofit and community land trust acquisition of mobile home parks, as well as grants and low interest loans for infrastructure investments and cooperative management,” she said. She urged that for Country Meadows the priority should be to secure the land and secure funding to invest in infrastructure.
County commissioners assured all those in the room that they would do whatever they could to create a better outcome for Country Meadows this time, as efforts to assist in purchasing the property back in 2021 and 2022 failed due to several issues, the most significant being that the former owner never responded to requests for information or provided access to the property for appraisal or inspection to enable the county to secure financing and make a legitimate offer.
“We’ve been in dialogue about Country Meadows for years now,” said county commissioner Liz Smith. “I am familiar with the newfound challenges that the park is going through and the residents and the significant impacts that they could have.” She said she and others have been reaching out to “chase down possible resources,” including the federal Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Engagement (PRICE) Fund that could be used to fix infrastructure, and resources within Proposition 102 which diverts a portion of property taxes to help renters build equity. Smith said she is looking for clarity on whether a mobile home community could qualify. “I think that it should,” she stated. “We do still care very deeply and have already been hitting the ground trying to find some resources.”
Kevin Donovan, a resident of CB South with experience on the Valley Housing Fund and the Gunnison Valley Habitat for Humanity, also encouraged commissioners to pursue a solution for the park.
Commissioners Jonathan Houck and Laura Puckett Daniels agreed that they were committed to helping in any way possible.
Puckett Daniels thanked everyone for coming forward, and said she looks forward to being involved this time around.
“Our community is made up of a lot of diverse voices and diverse faces and diverse living conditions, and you are all part of that. I hope that we can find some ways to move forward on this issue and protect your homes.”
“This is your community, this is your home and this is important,” echoed Houck. He said the county, city of Gunnison, Valley Housing Fund and others will be part of a community effort that is now beginning to take shape.
