Photo by Gabriel Christus/Aurora Sentinel
AURORA | Remaining residents of the Denver Meadows Mobile Home Park in Aurora may not have to find a new home as quickly as they once thought. City officials said this week they’re working with the park owner to postpone the closure until early next year.
Residents were told the park would close September 30. This week, however, at a city council meeting, several residents took to the open comment period to thank the city for helping to extend their stay.
Deputy City Manager Jason Batchelor told the Sentinel the city hasn’t received an official answer from the park owner, but that city officials did request the park owner allow tenants to stay there until February.
Andrea Chiriboga-Flor, a housing organizer for 9to5 Colorado who has been working with residents to remain in the mobile home park, said there was a verbal agreement late last week.
Even if the park were to close next month, nothing could come of the land until at least the spring.
The city implemented a 10-month moratorium on redeveloping mobile home parks earlier this year to allow a task force to assess the role mobile home parks play in affordable housing in Aurora.
Many residents of the park have said they doubt they will be able to find a home in the metro Denver region that is as affordable. They also say there are few other mobile home parks left they would able to move to.
While the owner, Shawn Lustigman, could close and sell the park during the moratorium, no re-zoning applications on the land could be processed by the city until the moratorium is up in March.
