50-year-old mobile-home park will close in August

Roadrunner Lake Resort, a 55-andolder mobile home park located on land belonging to the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, will close on Aug. 4, according to the park’s management firm.

The park, near McDowell and Scottsdale roads, opened in 1969 with a 25year lease with the tribal community. The lease later was extended another 25 years.

The closure of the park is because the lease is expiring, and the tribal community doesn’t intend to renew it again.

Arizona Communities, which manages the park, said in statement that the company is “deeply disappointed on behalf of the park residents that they are being required to move.”

On July 11, signs were posted around the park, informing residents that they would be required to move by Aug. 4, and as of Aug. 5, “any persons remaining on the property will be trespassing.”

All residents must be out by Aug. 4, or they will be evicted, and “no extensions will be granted,” said Kim Secakuku, a spokeswoman for the Salt River PimaMaricopa Indian Community.

She said the park’s management company was notified in November 2015 that the lease would be expiring.

Residents were aware the lease was expiring, and many have been in the process of moving out since early 2018, said Robert Rice, an attorney for Wenner Management, which owns and operates the park as Arizona Communities L.C.

He said more than 80 percent of the tenants have moved already.

The park was almost at full occupancy at the beginning of 2018, with more than 600 spaces occupied and roughly 1,000 residents, Rice said. He estimates that as of mid-July, only 66 spaces in the park are still occupied.

Rice said some people who remain are planning to move, but others are “showing no signs yet of moving out of the park.”

He said the management company has been assisting residents by purchasing their homes from them and providing independent financial assistance.

The management company also has helped them find other parks, referred them to movers and helped them find independent buyers, Rice added.

Secakuku stated that tenants may also be eligible to receive funds through the Arizona Department of Housing.