Welcome to the archive of Mapleton Hollow's community newsletter!
The Mapleton Mobile-izer is issued quarterly, following the MHA membership meetings. Special editions are issued as needed, for example before a quarterly meeting where MHA members will be voting for executives or making an important decision...
Volume 9.4 Newsletter of the Mapleton Home Association [MHA] September 2004
Inside this Issue:
Housing and Human Services Update
This could be the homestretch!
by Jeff Yegian
In the past few months the City of Boulder, MHA and Thistle have worked out most of the remaining issues related to the sale and management of the Park. In August, the final affordability agreement was presented to residents and nearly 90% of you have made your choices. Behind the scenes, almost all of the funding and regulatory documents have been negotiated.
The most significant exception at this point is the sewer warranty and maintenance agreement. Thistle has asked the City to renegotiate how conflicts will be resolved. Thistle and City Public Works hopefully will have settled this by the time you read this Mobile-izer. Once everything's agreed, City Council will consider a motion to authorize the sale of the Park at one of its upcoming meetings. At that point we'll be rolling to a quick closing. Please feel free to call me (303-441-4363) with any questions or concerns.
Thank you all for your patience and participation.
Thistle Corner
Thistle Corner
by Jim Harrington
Thistle Community Housing, the Mapleton Home Association and Housing and Human Services are closing in on completing the sale of the Park to Thistle, expected at the end of October 2004. All of us are working hard to craft a new model for affordable housing, that other communities around the country will be able to follow. The model is taking an existing market rate mobile home park with deferred infrastructure needs and transitioning it to a sustainable permanently affordable resident controlled community.
Thistle is proud to be a part of this effort. Paper work, documents, final run throughs and due diligence remain to be completed. But rest assured, all of us are working hard to finish the task.
Many goals have already been reached. The Replat, a legal description of the property has been approved by City Council and is soon to have remaining easements finalized. The Master site plan has been approved for three years, and City Council is expected to extend approval to last for as long as Mapleton remains a Mobile Home Park. Finally, Affordability is all but done. With nearly 90% of the Park responding, 104 residents have chosen the 50% AMI or below tiers. At the same time Thistle, HHS and the MHA have worked out an affordability agreement with a formula of City financial help that will help make the Park sustainable far into the future. Some objectives have yet to be finalized but are very close to completion. We have met with Public Works regarding the Warranty Agreement for the sewer line that connects the Park to Mapleton Avenue. Negotiations regarding the sewer are expected to be completed soon. Currently we are working on ways to resolve conflicts about what is covered in the Warranty Agreement and what is not. So far all sides have agreed that an emergency condition exists when sewage backs up into residents' homes and the City will promptly fix the problem if it is traced to the City's work on the Mapleton sewer system. HHS, TCH and MHA have completed all but final drafts of new lot leases for residents and a Master Land lease between the MHA and Thistle. The New Lot leases and accompanying Rules and Regulations will be handed out to residents very soon for sign off by residents. Much work and many documents remain. We are focusing on completing a number of closing related documents, including: Covenants, Deed of Trust, Funding Agreements, and Promissory Notes. All parties are working hard to complete this complex and innovative deal. Your work and patience is much appreciated.
When We Manage the Park
By Kathryn Alexander,
Community Coordinator
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I've been talking to residents and I've discovered some misconceptions about what resident management of the park might mean. Here are some of the salient points and their implications.
MHA is responsible for the long and short-term financial health of the Park. This means that we oversee the management company in their fiscal management. We are responsible for making sure that Thistle gets paid enough to pay the debt they have incurred for buying the Park, putting in the new infrastructure, and for their administration of the Affordability Agreement conditions, as well as all other expenses the Park incurs. We do this from the money paid by us in rents. When the City owned the Park, they could afford to allow some people to get behind in their rents - we can't. We have no source of income other than Park revenues. This may mean that some difficult decisions may need to be made. The MHA's Management Committee and Finance Committees are hoping to be able to create a fund to help those in need to buy into the Park, stay as residents and upgrade. However, this fund doesn't exist at present.
MHA shares the responsibility for the quality of life in the Park with residents. This means that the Management Committee, through the Rules and Regulations, tries to set up agreed upon standards of behavior so that everyone will benefit. This does not mean that everyone will always be happy. When people live together in groups sometimes individuals may have to give up their personal desires for the greater good. This shows up most clearly in the parking and pet restrictions. Some of these rules have not been enforced under the City's ownership. That will change under the new ownership. Cars will be given stickers so we know who owns what cars and only two cars per unit plus one visitor will be allowed to park within the Park. Animals will be registered with the management company, tagged and kept under control. The closeness of our homes requires more than the usual amount of consideration between neighbors and the Rules and Regulations are set up to help maintain and clarify what consideration means.
MHA is a representative body. It represents the residents. Residents have input in many ways: attending the Quarterly Meetings; voting for representatives/offices of the corporation; serving on committees; signing and presenting petitions to the various committees and to the elected members of the Board of Directors.
Remember MHA will NOT be the owner of the Park. MHA leases the Park grounds from the Mapleton LLC, which is owned by Thistle. This means that MHA has a relationship with Thistle and works in conjunction with them to ensure that the residents interests are met as well as those of Thistle.
This is definitely a new era and it offers Mapleton residents many new opportunities and responsibilities. The opportunities will be defined by how well the responsibilities are managed. Good fiscal management will allow for some wonderful benefits in the long-term, but will require some time to manifest and will entail some learning and discipline to make these dreams a reality.
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Dear neighbors it's time to think of putting my garden to sleep for the winter. So I can harvest all winter long I need to prevent the ground from freezing. If you would save your clean bagged leaves for me, I would appreciate it. Call me and I'll get them. Gene Langlois at 303-444-4988. Home # 77.
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The Mapleton Mobile-izer is published quarterly by the Mapleton Home Association and is distributed free to all residents of Mapleton Mobile Home Park.