Mobile home park stepping out of Syringa’s shadow

Property owner Gary Lester said the neglect that eventually led to the closure of Syringa Mobile Home Park near Moscow in 2018 put other mobile home parks under more scrutiny.

“That Syringa thing really changed the game,” he said.

Unresolved water and sewer issues led to the downfall of the Syringa park, a class action suit against its owner Magar E. Magar and a bankruptcy. Its residents were forced to find new homes.

Lester is the owner of Appaloosa Court, a mobile home park located just outside Moscow’s city limits near the University of Idaho Golf Course. When he took over in the fall, Lester inherited a property that was also experiencing water and sewage issues.

However, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and several of the residents there agree the new improvements Lester is overseeing will ensure Appaloosa Court does not follow in Syringa’s footsteps.

Appaloosa Court resident Scott Morrison used to live in Syringa. He said Lester has handled the park’s issues with “flying colors” compared to Magar.

“I’m a happy camper,” he said.

One of Lester’s primary goals when he took over the park was to fix the well. Last year, water pressure from the well dropped to as low as five gallons a minute, Lester said. This meant the residents experienced a water shortage during last summer’s intense heat wave.

Resident David Coley said he would have to go three to four days at a time without water. Olivia Moses, who runs the local nonprofit Food Not Bombs of the Palouse, visits the park each week to deliver donated food to the residents. This past summer during the hot temperatures of the summer time, the nonprofit’s main priority was delivering water.

“Any water we got (donated) in the last year has almost exclusively gone here,” Moses said.

Former property owner Rusty Olps said he replaced the well pump but it would keep failing. He sold Appaloosa Court to Lester largely because he felt Lester was the right man to fix the problem.

Since Lester took over, he brought in seven truckloads of water during times when water was unavailable. He hired Nordic Drilling to fix the nearly 30-year-old well on-site and earlier this month the well started producing 60 gallons a minute, more than enough to resolve the court’s water pressure problem, Lester said.

“We can survive on 10 (gallons a minute),” Lester said. “Twenty would be great, but we have 60.”

Coley said he is happy with the fixes that occurred since Lester took over.

“We’re in good shape now,” he said.

Lester also had to use his resources to fix the sewage issue. Michael Camin, regional administrator for Idaho DEQ, said Appaloosa Court’s wastewater was being collected into a lagoon and discharged into the ground behind the property where it was at risk of flowing into Paradise Creek. The DEQ and Olps in 2019 entered into a compliance agreement schedule to connect the court’s sewer to the City of Moscow’s wastewater system.

“I didn’t have the horsepower to see it through,” Olps said. “So, I had to sell it to somebody who had the capital financially and intellectually to get it all done.”

The process of hooking up Appaloosa Court’s sewage to the city is underway under Lester’s ownership. Michael Camin, regional administrator for DEQ, said he appreciated Lester’s efforts and his active engagement with the park.

Camin said if these problems did not get resolved, eventually the DEQ would file a civil complaint and work through the civil court system for a resolution, like what happened with Syringa.

“I do not anticipate we will go that way with Appaloosa Court,” he said.

Appaloosa Court resident John Ackley said residents were tense during the water shortage. He credited Lester for his involvement in the park and for letting tenants know about the park’s progress.

“I’m really happy with the improvements he’s doing,” Ackley said.

By his count, Lester believes there are currently 42 family units living in the park. His future priorities also include hauling off garbage, cleaning up yards, grading the gravel roads, fixing the electrical pedestals in vacant spaces and making room for long-term RV rentals.

These changes, particularly the sewage upgrades, are costly and will increase the rent for tenants, Lester said. He hopes Appaloosa Court can remain affordable for everyone.

Moses said Food Not Bombs of the Palouse wants to encourage the city to waive the fees attached to the sewer upgrades to lighten the financial burden on Lester and the residents.

Coley and Morrison said they were not concerned about potential rent hikes because the cost to live in Appaloosa Court is still relatively cheap for the area.

Olps said trailer parks like Appaloosa Court are valuable community resources because they provide affordable housing. When these courts and their owners get a bad reputation, that eventually leads to fewer parks and fewer available homes.

“I hope regulatory agencies will keep in mind the importance of trailer parks,” he said, “and that communities will appreciate them and let them exist peacefully.”

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.