Judge allows embattled Trails End Mobile Home Park to be sold over protests of some residents

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A disappointed crowd of Trails End residents and supporters left the Fresno County Superior Courthouse Tuesday afternoon after a judge allowed for the sale of their mobile home park to Harmony Communities.

Trails End suffered two fires in April and June of last year. Five homes were destroyed and one person died.

Trails End has been under receivership, which means a third party took control from the current owners. The receiver, Mark Adams, has been working to make necessary safety improvements in preparation for the sale of the mobile home park to Harmony.

RELATED: Group of residents at Trails End Mobile Home Park hopes to purchase park through cooperative

"I'm thrilled she was able to make a decision today and I think it was a good one for the Fresno community," he said.

The residents feel differently.

"I was devastated when she read that they were going to do the sale to Harmony when she knew that we had this other thing that would have taken care of us," says Trissie Shawn.

People living at Trails End were hoping to purchase the park themselves through a co-op, but the group helping them was not able to put together a viable offer in the eyes of the court.

"In order to put together a firm number, they needed access to financial info from the owners, which is to say most-recent rent rolls plus about three years' operating expenses for the park," says attorney Mariah Thompson.

She says the current owners refused to share this information with them.

The receiver's job now is to get the park up to code so he can be discharged and Harmony can complete its purchase. That means he's overseeing a major clean-up.

RELATED: No sale yet, trail not ended for north Fresno mobile home residents

"I understand we need it to be cleaned up and really, I think we're doing a good job and we're going to continue to keep it this way, but I don't see us conforming to all the strictness he wants," Shawn said.

The main concern for residents, though, is that Harmony will raise their rent so high they can't afford to stay.

"The city of Fresno has a rent control ordinance and so the fear that rents are going to get jacked up is just fear-mongering," Adams said.