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REDINGTON SHORES - Town commissioners on Tuesday tentatively approved annexing Parsley's by the Gulf mobile home park into the city.
The nearly 50-year-old park, composed of roughly 23 acres east of Gulf Boulevard and west of the Intracoastal Waterway, has been a source of controversy for more than a year.
Owned by the Parsley family for more than five decades, the park is being sold to developers for $28-million, forcing residents to move.
After the family closes on the sale next month, the park's more than 300 mobile home units will be replaced by 69 houses and 126 condos, said Town Administrator Don Lusk.
John Loder, president of Sun Vista Development Group, the company that bought the land, said the annexation "just makes sense."
"It's the only enclave surrounded by the city on all sides," he said after the commission vote. "It's just easier to work within the confines of the city. It should have been annexed 20 years ago, in my opinion."
Loder said residents likely will embrace having the property in the city instead of the county because "it's going to help with the tax base and keep their taxes down."