Friday — May 14, 2004

Displaced trailer residents are angry

Options look grim for J&C Mobile Home Park residents

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

Peggy and Jose Gueracaechevarria spent $2,000 this spring on materials to replace the roof on their mid-valley mobile home. But just a few weeks later they received an eviction notice, announcing that they and their 30 neighbors must move their belongings and trailer out of the J&C Mobile Home Park by Sept. 10.

Peggy Guerecaechevarria is among the soon-to-be displaced trailer owners who have been renting space at the J&C Mobile Home Park south of McHanville. The 25-year park resident said she and her neighbors are angry about the way their eviction was handled. Express photo by David N. Seelig

"We’ve lived in the same spot for 25 years," Peggy Gueracaechevarria said. "I think we’re the (longest lasting) residents in here. I don’t think we can move our home. It’s worth about $20,000. It’s going to cost $10,000 to $15,000 to move it. There’s no place for any of us to move in this valley."

The J&C Mobile Home Park is one of roughly eight Wood River Valley trailer courts. On Sunday and Monday of this week, all the tenants received notices announcing they must move because the property’s septic system is insufficient to handle the loads it is receiving. Joe and Cherie Goitiandia own the land. Their son, Miguel Goitiandia, manages the park.

"Once again, the above mentioned decision is final," Miguel Goitiandia stated in the eviction notice.

The Gueracaechevarrias and many of their neighbors met Monday night at the Casino Club in Ketchum to discuss their predicament. Peggy Gueracaechevarria said Miguel Goitiandia attended the meeting and told the residents there is nothing he can do to help them. She said Goitiandia declined requests to help the trailer court residents move or sell their homes.

"We’re totally screwed," she said.

Gueracaechevarria said her neighbors constitute a cross-section of the Wood River Valley’s service personnel. They include grocery store personnel, carpenters, plumbers, mechanics, janitors, trash haulers, cooks, landscapers, secretaries, post office employees and electricians.

"We’re the people who make it work," she said. "We’re the service people. We’re the people who service this community."

According to a 2001 economic analysis of Blaine County, more than 50 percent of the county’s employees work in service or trade oriented industries. The report also pointed out that the inflation of average home costs is far outpacing average salaries.

Gueracaechevarria said some of her neighbors are talking with attorneys to learn if they have any legal footing to stand on. But it doesn’t look promising.

"We know this is his land, and he has the right to do anything he wants with it," she said. "We understand that. It’s just the crappy way it’s being done."

In the eviction notice, Goitiandia pointed to South Central District Health, a state-employed contractor, as the villain.

"After an ongoing effort to pursue an on-site sewage permit from the South Central District Health department and Department of Environmental Quality, the park was unsuccessful," he wrote.

In a Monday interview, however, South Central District Health Public Information Officer Monie Smith attempted to absolve her agency from any wrongdoing.

"He made the decision to close the mobile home park on his own," she said. "Basically, what we did was we told him that the current septic system that is being used there basically failed and that he had several options."

The options were to expand the system, tap into a nearby system or close the park.

The Goitiandias have not returned repeated telephone inquiries from the Express, but the trailer park residents said they were told that expanding the septic system would entail removal of nine of the court’s trailers.

Additionally, Gueracaechevarria said she was told expansion of the septic system would increase trailer park rents by $400 to $800 per month. Jon Kellar, another park resident, said he currently pays $285 per month to rent his portion of the property.

Smith was unclear about the methodology involved with her agency’s decision to require improved septic facilities. But local hydrologist Lee Brown said he has previously encountered a number of "positive results" for coliform bacteria in 25-30 well sites in the area, something he called an indicator for the possibility of contamination.

Brown qualified that he has not tested wells in the J&C Mobile Home Park.

"It does seem to me that it’s a little higher than average throughout that area," Brown said. "It’s certainly not epidemic."

The core of the issue, however, is that approximately 30 families will soon have to move out of their homes. Some of them will not be able to recoup the value of their homes.

"We’ll have to move clear out of the valley," Gueracaechevarria said. "We can’t afford to buy land here. There are absolutely no spaces to move into … It totally pisses me off … We’re all so angry."

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.