Residents say life is rough in Shangri-La

1 Comment | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Feb 19, 2009 | by SIDE STREETS BILL VOGRIN

What if your neighborhood association charged you $25 a month for every pet you own, including your house cat, parakeets and guinea pig? What if your guests had to park half a mile away and hike in, or your kids couldn't throw a ball outside?

Some residents of the Shangri-La Mobile Home Park on North Cascade Avenue claim the park's new owner, Dale Osborn, has been imposing those rules and threatening to increase rents for anyone who disobeys.

Life in Shangri-La is anything but heavenly, and some residents are fed up.

Nine-year resident Debbie Fales, for example, said she's tired of "living in a concentration camp." She described a recent incident involving her 11-year-old grandson, Tyler.

"I sent him down to get my mail," said Fales, who is legally blind. "They told him he needed parental guidance to check the mail. And they told him he couldn't ride his skateboard down to the office. And Dale told him to take his hat off. Who does he think he is? He's out of control."

So on Saturday night, Fales is hosting a meeting where she hopes residents will band together to oppose what they say are harsh, and possibly illegal, rules imposed by Osborn.

They are going to do more than just vent. The meeting will feature Sherry Armstrong, president of the American Mobilehome Association, from Denver, who will advise residents on their rights.

Those rights vary, depending on whether folks own their mobile homes or rent a home from the park, Armstrong said. But either way, mobile home residents need to stand up, she said.

"Often, activities that go on in mobile home parks fall into the category of management by intimidation," Armstrong said. "I don't know if that's going on at Shangri-La. But it does happen."

Osborn denies breaking any laws or threatening and intimidating residents of the 40-year-old, 12-acre park that has spaces for about 129 mobile homes.

"You better get your story straight," Osborn said, defending his pet fees, restrictions on children playing, parking and other rules.

"You've got a little community here and I have to be the mayor of the little community," Osborn said. "I try and resolve issues that happen between neighbors. There are rules that have to be followed."

That includes the demand he made after he bought the park last March that all residents sign new leases, or face steep lot rental increases.

"Some of the leases went back to 1979," Osborn said. "They were outdated."

But Armstrong said the state law bans mandatory new leases. And homeowners can't be forced to pay pet rentals or keep their kids indoors.

"Spare me," she said. "Mobile-homeowners do not sign away their constitutional rights when they move into a park."

--