Negotiations are underway between a Tennessee-based firm and the Santa Maria Public Airport District to conduct a study that would precede closing the mobile home park on airport property.

The airport board directed its staff to begin talks with W.D. Schock Co. to perform a conversion impact report and create a relocation plan for the park at 4000 S. Blosser Road. Officials are planning to close the park so they can build the proposed Santa Maria Airport Business Park.

The conversion impact report is seen as providing key information to help answer many of the questions that surround the future of the airport mobile home park, which has become a sticking point in the city of Santa Maria's process of reviewing the specific plan for the proposed business park.

The plan, which narrowly cleared the Planning Commission with a recommendation for approval, goes before the City Council on Dec. 18.

A plan for dealing with the mobile home park appears to be needed to ensure city approval of the specific plan.

The Planning Commission voted on the plan Nov. 21. This version of the specific plan first came before the board in July, but commissioners had questions and gave the airport district more time to gather the additional information.

Commissioners were especially concerned with what would happen to the residents of the roughly 90-unit mobile home park that sits on part of the proposed project site. The homes will have to be moved before the business park and golf course is complete.

Advertisement

With that knowledge, park tenants have been asking the airport board for some kind of predictability in their situation, since the timeline for closure has become fluid over the course of the project planning.

Residents have been asking for leases that are longer than their current month-to-month arrangement and for some specifics on how and when they will be relocated.

The conversion impact report is required before a mobile home park is shut down. It consists of an in-depth analysis of each resident's situation plus various alternatives for relocation. It is expected that this study will answer all the questions of how and where the residents will be moved.

“The direction of the board is, select a company for the conversion impact report and start it,” said Board President Carl Engel. “We are going to work. Once we get that done, what ever we have to do, that's what we have to do.”

Airport General Manager Gary Rice estimates the contract with W.D. Schock could cost about $200,000.

The airport received four proposals in response to a request that was issued in October to companies interested in the contract, Rice said. W.D. Schock was picked due to their experience in closing other mobile home parks that were on airport land.

According to Rice, the company's officials said they have worked with 11 other airports on similar issues and closed four parks.

The Santa Maria Public Airport District is seeking city approval on the Airport Business Park Specific Plan that incorporates 740 acres just south of the airfield. The plan is proposed to include 16.3 acres of commercial and professional buildings, 132 acres of light manufacturing, 262.3 acres of recreational open space and 105 acres of conservation open space.

Malia Spencer can be reached at 739-2219 or mspencer@santamariatimes.com.

December 4, 2007