Brookvale Terrace Mobile Home Park in Capitola marks 30 years of resident ownership this April, and more than 50 years as a mobile home park. A potluck with residents on April 15 will celebrate the small community, its memories and the success of privately owning and managing a mobile home park.
“As residents of Brookvale Terrace, we enjoy our natural surroundings, the community of nice neighbors and having private control of our land and mobile home park. It’s truly an honor to volunteer on the board and serve my community. Our celebration will be an old-fashioned potluck with plenty of time for remembrances and socializing,” the Board of Directors President Sheryl Colson says.
Brookvale Terrace was constructed in the early 1970s by John Minges of Scotts Valley and his partners, according to The History of Noble Gulch and Brookvale Terrace Mobile Home Park, written by resident Stephanie Kirby. The Gulch and surrounding land were initially inhabited by the Ohlone native people and given to Maria Matina Castro Lodge in 1833 by the Mexican government as part of the Rancho Soquel land grant, according to Kirby’s history.
Much of the land was later sold to Frederick Hihn, and the Castro-Lodge homestead area on top of Hill Street to Augustus Noble in 1856. Thus, Kirby writes that Peck Gulch, named for a Castro-Lodge heir, became Noble Gulch. Due to the extensive rose gardens fed by vast nearby springs, Gulch called his estate Rosedale.
In the intervening decades, increasing conflict over rent increases in Capitola led to rent stabilization ordinances and lawsuits with park owners. Abraham Keh bought the park in 1981, and battled with the residents and Capitola over rent and maintenance, as detailed by Kirby. In 1993, residents bought the 20-acre property for $6.8 million with the help of a bond established by Capitola and established the Brookvale Terrace Property Owners Association.
Today the park is overseen by a volunteer Board of Directors and is one of the county’s most desirable mobile home parks. brookvaleterrace.com
Stacey Vreeken | Capitola
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Congratulations! My wife and I really enjoyed assisting the resident-purchase of Brookvale Terrace to become a reality. Your board and other advisors were all top notch and totally committed to enabling every resident to become an owner of the community. Kudos to you all.