9-13-2024 11:19am

Residents Continue to Face Water and Security Concerns at Amber Skies Mobile Home Park

Chris Edwards Editor

For mobile home or "manufactured home" park residents in Alamogordo, New Mexico it has been a very difficult year. Residents at two Alamogordo parks have been battling since the winter to now the end of summer with a series of issues from no gas to cook and heat with, to water main breaks, sewage backups and breaks to no water fir days on end and fencing and security issues. Two mobile home parks have driven the news cycle with neglect of resident needs and providing basic services as contracted to residents; Amber Skies and Desert Palms owned by a California out of state investor Brad Dunn. On 7-25 2nd Life Media via KALHRadio.org and AlamogordoTownNews.org ran a series of interviews and stories on how this Mobile Home Park Owner is Under AG Investigation: Residents Ask City Commissioners to Act.

Alamogordo City Manager Rick Holden has said city staff visited with investigator in July Serna from the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office.

“He has made it clear that he is actually investigating all three of our mobile home parks here,” Holden said.

The New Mexico Mobile Home Act governs upkeep of mobile home properties but it takes time for enforcement actions to take ahold and in the meantime residents endure months of delays.

During the August 27th Alamogordo City Commission meeting it was reported in the city managers report that progress on concerns within the mobile home parks was on the horizon as reported by AlamogordoTownNews.org...

"White Sands Mobile Home Park is having new gas lines installed after being without gas for months and thus work is in process.

Desert Palms Mobile Home Park does have a promise from the owner to get their natural gas lines upgraded and is getting quotes. The owner reported to Holden that he is no longer considering propane as an alternative and no longer asking the city for a variance to allow that alternative.

Holden suggested that these mobile home park operators are now acting upon the requirements of the state mobile home act and city government regulations."

But are they really?

AlamogordoTownNews.org has been aprised to further ongoing issues, more complaints with the Attorney General's office involvement and more concerns about quality of life and safety in these mobile home park communities.

Local residents of Amber Skies mobile home parks sent us a series of concerns to include a water outage that has lasted over three days and a sense of a lack of security because of ongoing issues with the security gate not being addressed.

Amber Skies resident, Carolyn Ross, reports to us that she feels there is a safety risk at the park that is ongoing and not being addressed...

"The story I have is not related to Amber Skies' numerous water breaks. It is about our front gates. They have been broken for over a month, since Friday, August 9, 2024. We are a mobile home park filled with seniors, disabled people, and Veterans, and I would wager to bet that our gated entrance is at the top of the list of reasons why residents moved here. There are residents as you come through the gates, and now we have strange cars driving through the park at all hours of the night, music blasting. It is very unsettling.

Amber Skies residents have repeatedly emailed our manager, Michelle Flippin, about the status of the repairs. We have been told for over a month that "parts have been ordered," but the majority of the time, residents receive no response from her whatsoever...

Several residents have emailed Mr. Dunn to inquire when the gates might be fixed, and he failed to respond to those residents as well.

The gated entrance is something we pay for in our lot rent, and Amber Skies advertises itself as a gated community. It is inexcusable that our gates have been inoperable for almost five weeks."

Park residents Mrs. Shelia Michael, Mr. Vincent Mullins, and Mr. Gary Perry share the concerns.

The Amber Skies website touts the gate and walls as for safety and to keep out unwanted traffic. However that is only true if the entrance gate is operational.

According to resident Gary Perry, "our issue with Mr. Dunn, the California owner, is that he drags his feet on repairs. I recently (August 9, 2024) had to get the NM AG's office to intervene with Mr. Dunn to get a timely repair on one of our parks' many water breaks so the residents didn't have to go without water for 3 days over the weekend. Since moving here in August of 2019 I can't even count how many times the gate has been broken and repairs have been delayed. On June 1, 2024 Mr. Dunn increased our lot rent by almost 12%. Amber Skies generates over $600,000 annual revenue to Mr. Dunn. There is no excuse for the delays we are encountering in fixing the gate after five weeks.

Of course, Mr. Dunn may be reeling from what it is going to cost him to fix the gas problem at Desert Palms. Maybe that's why he won't spend the money to fix our gate!

Every resident is assigned a remote for the gate thus it is clearly supposed to be operating as a barrier and for safety. A packet is given to residents by the manager. Each household is given one gate remote for single residents, and two gate remotes for married couples.

New Mexico has had a significant uptick in out of state investors swooping up properties and then neglecting them. The trend is a state wide issue as there is little local regulatory oversight in New Mexico unlike many other states. Most cities like Alamogordo just rely on state regulations and enforcement by the AG which is already streatched with criminal prosecutions.

KOB News ran a story earlier this year on how the state legislature failed to act and toughen legislation to protect mobile home park residents.

As the laws are written unless residents sue, the lack of enforcement elsewhere seems favors park owners and investors who are eager to capitalize on affordable housing with some websites promising big profit and fewer operating costs.

New Mexico Moble Home Act was crafted to protect citizens...

It’s supposed to protect residents and set standards for mobile home park owners. But folks in parks around the state will tell you it’s much more complicated than that.

“We’ve become cash cows for out-of-state investor groups,” said Gary Perry, a mobile home park resident in Alamogordo to KOB News during a recent interview.

Perry said when he reported a violation of the Mobile Home Park Act to the New Mexico Attorney General’s office he was told to get private legal help.

“I contacted three different private legal firms one wanted a $50,000 retainer to begin researching our case,” said Perry.

The Act allows people to sue and collect attorney’s fees. But that’s a chance other people, who reached out to 4 Investigates, said they can’t afford to take.

“If these are New Mexico laws, they are, then why should we as private senior citizens, mostly living on fixed or limited income, have to seek private legal service and the expense of it to enforce, an on the book, New Mexico law,” said Perry.

“Although the Mobile Home Park Act (MHPA) does not explicitly state that the New Mexico Office of the Attorney General has authority to investigate and act on complaints that violate the MHPA, we are monitoring issues regarding potential violations of that act and are in communication with legal aid organizations about enforcement options,” said a spokesperson with the New Mexico Office of the Attorney General.

AlamogordoTownNews.org has reached out the Amber Skies owners for comments but as of print time no response.