BRAD HORN/Nevada Appeal Debra Kinkel and her husband Chuck look out the front door of their home at the Mountain View Mobile Home Park in Carson City on Thursday. The Kinkels have lived at the park for six years and were getting ready to sell their home but the recent sale of the property has forced the couple to change their plans.
Chuck Kinkel, who has lived at the Mountain View Mobile Home Park for six years, is concerned about his future there.
The new owner of an east Carson City mobile home park said he has no immediate plans to change the one-acre park, but is looking into his options.
F. Daniel Yslava, who acquired the Mountain View Mobile Home Park on April 4, said there are an array of things he could do with the property, including building affordable, sweat-equity or some other types of housing. If he ends up creating affordable housing, he said, he hopes at least some of the tenants would be able to live in the new units.
He plans to meet with residents of the 12-space park early next week.
Yslava said the first thing he wanted to do with the park is rent a trash receptacle and ask residents to get rid of junk. Some of them have more than others, he said, and they likely haven't been pressured to remove it because the previous owners weren't around.
"I'm not a slumlord," Yslava said. "My properties are clean."
Teresa Hayes, an environmental health specialist with the city, inspected the park and also made note of a burned-out mobile sitting on the property. It was the site of a fire Nov. 5, which destroyed it, and has yet to be removed.
Yslava wouldn't say how much he paid for the property at 3769 Reeves St., near the SlotWorld casino, but did say he wanted to weigh all options before making a decision that would force resident to move.
Kinkel, who works for a Dayton firm as a welder and was born and raised in Carson, said he is worried about finding a place to relocate.
"I have a permanent addition on my home," Kinkel, 55, said of the 1964-model mobile he lives in with his wife, Debra. The couple bought new appliances and made other improvements "so it would be safe," he said.
Because property values have gone up so much in recent years, as have rents and home prices, finding a new spot for the old mobile in Carson City will be difficult. Staying in the area once the mobile home park closes might not be an option, he said.
The park is near a property at Gordon and Brown streets that will be the site of up to 32 "self-help" town homes. Citizens for Affordable Homes will allow people to help build the structures instead of making a down payment, which is why Yslava said he believes more affordable housing would work well in that area.
According to state law, the property owner has 180 days to move tenants to a location up to 50 miles away once the tenants are notified of plans to close. The landowner also can buy the mobile home, among other provisions.
The city requires all newly installed mobile and manufactured homes to be no more than 15 years old. People already within city limits, however, can move their older homes to facilities that will accept them. The regulatory agency for operating these parks is the Manufactured Housing Division, Nevada Department of Business and Industry.
• Contact reporter Terri Harber at tharber @nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111, ext. 215.