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They own their homes but not their futures
A mobile home park's residents worry: What will development mean for homes they own, on land they don't?
By ANNE LINDBERG
Published January 15, 2006
PINELLAS PARK - Schoolchildren, mothers pushing baby carriages and the elderly leaning on canes and wearing braces came despite Saturday's chill wind to picket outside the mobile home park where they live.
They were protesting plans by a developer to raze the Golden Lantern Mobile Home Park and build a combination of condominiums, apartments and a small commercial/retail strip center.
Dino Marakovic, 12, whose parents moved here from Bosnia, said he was picketing to help prevent the county from rezoning the park. That, and a change in the land-use designation, must be done before the Golden Lantern can be destroyed.
About 100 of the 178 mobile homes in the park are privately owned by people who fear losing not only their homes but their investments should the developer, Triax, get county permission to redevelop the 19.7 acres. The home owners have been fighting the proposal since last January.
Thus far, they have not fared well. The Pinellas County Commission late last year gave preliminary approval for a land-use change that would clear the way for the mixed-use development.
With a hearing scheduled Wednesday in front of the Pinellas Planning Council, more than 20 of the mobile home owners decided to air their grievances Saturday with handmade signs on poster board: ""We're homeowners, not beggars." ""Slumlord+
development = homeless." ""Thou shalt not steal my home, 11th Commandment."
The planning council will recommend whether the County Commission should make the zoning change final.
Tim Johnson, the attorney for Triax, could not be reached for comment.
"We're not giving up our homes. We're going to fight to the bitter end," said Jenny Cocciardi, president of the Golden Lantern Homeowners Association. "We are down to the last wire. We are doing everything we can to save our homes."
Cocciardi said the group would protest in front of the county Court House in Clearwater before Wednesday's PPC meeting.
[Last modified January 15, 2006, 01:48:18]
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