Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Land purchase creates a rift

By RITA FARLOW
Published March 22, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Douglas R. Clifford] From left: Marion Sionko, Dee Keetch and Steve Grandy enjoy a Palm Hill Country Club park pool. Residents vote April 3 on whether to buy the land for $76-million.

LARGO - Signs at the entrances of the Palm Hill Country Club mobile home park in Largo tell those passing by that the 55-and-older park is resident-owned.

Turns out, that's not exactly so. And a dispute over whether the residents should buy the park is causing a deep rift among some residents, some of whom fear they'll be priced out of their homes.

Residents of Palm Hill, one of Pinellas' largest mobile home parks, own their homes and all improvements, like the streets, sewer lines, pools and clubhouses through a cooperative. But the land the park sits on belongs to the John S. Taylor family of Largo, which leases the land to residents.

Now, the cooperative's board has proposed buying the land from the Taylor family for $76-million, an idea that neighbors on either side of the issue complain has led to verbal attacks and scare tactics.

Residents on both sides have said that they feel it's in their best interest to own the land, but a group has emerged to contest the sale, arguing that the price is too high and doesn't take into account that the residents already own the improvements.

"That covers all the buildings that we already own, so they're giving everyone a false appraisal," Melvin Filcox said. "The Taylors get rich, the lawyers get rich, the bank gets rich, and the residents of Palm Hill pay."

But Andrew Rodnite, attorney for the Taylors, said the appraisal is based on the terms of the current lease, which allows for the highest and best use of the property. In other words, the appraisal is based on the amount the land could fetch if it were undeveloped.

* * *

Bob and Mary. Ed and Louise. Dave and Gloria.

The small, personalized signs on each residence identify who lives inside and helps contribute to the tight-knit, small-town feel of the park, which is a mixture of single- and double-wide modular and mobile homes that covers 165 acres.

Just under two years ago the park made news when separate funnel clouds called "gustnados" sliced through Largo, damaging 50 mobile homes. Damage in the Palm Hill park alone amounted to $437,705.

Construction on the park began in 1969. It now has 1,096 units, and roughly 1,500 residents. The residents formed a cooperative in the early 1980s to protect their interests in case the land ever became available for purchase.

In 1986, the cooperative paid $17-million to buy all of the park's improvements, but the purchase did not include the land.

In 1995, the cooperative signed a new land lease with the Taylors. Under the provisions of that contract, the land lease payment was agreed upon as 8 percent of the land's value at that time of $7.85-million.

The lease provides that the land will be reappraised every 15 years to determine the fair market value.

And it's that lease arrangement - due for reappraisal in 2010 - that is driving the cooperative's pitch that its time to buy the land. Its leaders contend it will be cheaper for residents than what lease fees will be after the reappraisal.

On county tax rolls - where real estate values are traditionally lower than the market rate - the Taylors land, without the improvements, is currently appraised at $52.8-million. The best case scenario for residents: The reappraised value in 2010 would match the current county appraisal, raising the cost of the lease per unit to $321 a month, up from $64 a month.

Joe Gaynor, the attorney for the park's board of directors, cautions that the land's value will not likely decrease or even remain stagnant.

If the 2010 appraisal matched the Taylor's recent appraisal of $81-million, the residents could pay as much as $493 per month beginning in 2010, Gaynor said.

In contrast, the $76-million purchase price would require each resident pay $399 per month.

Homeowners have until April 3 to cast their votes on whether to buy the property. As of Monday, 535 residents had turned in their votes, with 454 voting yes and 81 voting no. Seventy-five percent of the park's 1,096 units must vote in favor of the sale to move forward.

Jean Halvorsen, former city commissioner and 34-year resident of the park, said residents have wanted to buy the property for many years. "To me, its the only way to go. I think $76-million is a fair price and I don't believe that the market is starting to die down, not with this type of land."

Fast Facts:

The Taylor family

The Taylors are one of Pinellas County's oldest families, having settled in the area in 1835 and helped build the first Free School in the 1850s. The family ran a citrus packing house in Largo on West Bay Drive and its members have a long history of being active in local and state government, including a former Largo mayor and four generations of state legislators. Largo named Taylor Park for the family in 1958.

[Last modified March 21, 2007, 23:30:49]