Residents of Samish Mobile Home Park in Bellingham may purchase the 3-acre site, which its developer-owner has put up for sale.
Residents met Sunday, Dec. 10 and voted to pursue the purchase, said Victoria O’Banion, who is assisting the residents. She leads acquisitions for ROC Northwest, a program of the Northwest Cooperative Development Center that supports resident-owned communities.
After the property is inspected, and residents of the 28-unit park at 119 N. Samish Way receive a loan offer, they will vote again on whether to buy on the property, O’Banion said. That vote is likely to happen in February.
“It’s a high likelihood it’s a done deal,” O’Banion said. The residents, who have formed a cooperative to own and manage the park, are offering between $4.5 million and $5.1 million, she said.
City rules that went into effect a year ago would require the property owner, Michael Reams, “to negotiate in good faith with the tenants” to close the sale.
The new rules, passed by the city council in October 2022, were intended to protect mobile home parks in a city with few housing options for low-income residents. Regardless of who becomes Samish Mobile Home Park’s new owner, they would not be able to remove the homes and redevelop the site without requesting a special public hearing.
During deliberations over the new rules, Reams asked that Samish Mobile Home Estates be exempted, saying he intended to build multistory housing on the site. The city council decided all 10 of the city’s manufactured home parks, including Samish, should fall under the rules.
A second manufactured-home community in Bellingham, Lakeway Mobile Estates at 1200 Lincoln St., is in the early stages of pursuing resident ownership.
The homeowners association at Lakeway has been “activated to start having conversations with residents” regarding purchase of the property, O’Banion said.
As for the outcome, she said, “It’s way too early to tell.”
In an email, city council member Michael Lilliquist said resident ownership at Lakeway Mobile Estates would be “another significant milestone in Bellingham.”
“I’m glad to see [the new rules are] working as we intended,” he added.
