Strange as it may seem on first blush, the Sea Air Village tenants’ move is sound. The federal Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) has made it attractive for banks to put money back into their communities. The willingness of local banks to commit to a line of credit for the association once it gains nonprofit cooperative status has encouraged tenants they are on the right track. It may take them as little as two weeks to gain co-op status.

Sea Air Tenants Association President Jeannie Sisk, association treasurer Dee Melchiorre and longtime park resident Tom Haley met recently to outline a plan they hope will lead the association into ownership of the community they love so much.

They noted how manufactured home cooperatives are a relatively new trend, attractive to homeowners because as members of a co-op they are able to control costs, park maintenance and the level of amenities since they would own the park as well as their own homes. They also noted how recent rising rents from current Sea Air Village owner, Sun Communities, has led many in the park to feel they are being priced out of their community.

Sisk, who spent three years researching the issues of nonprofit cooperative ownership, thinks the time is right for Sea Air Village residents to make their move.

“We have a little more than 370 lots in this 52-acre park, and 130 full-time, year-round residents,” said Sisk. “All we want to do is live here affordably, but rents keep rising and rumors keep swirling around that the park is about to be sold to a builder. We can’t live that way, not knowing what the rents will be next year and whether the park will still be a park next year. something had to give. We decided to take the matter in our own hands and try to buy the park. We know from studying the operating costs that this park is a cash cow. We know we could run it well and probably keep the rents down.”

Affordable rents is one main goal in seeking their overall objective of one day owning Sea Air Village, Sisk said. Recent rate hikes of $24 a month by Sun Communities outraged many homeowners in the park. “Most of us are retired and live on fixed incomes,” stated an open letter to all tenants last month. “How do we survive? There is no fixed increase rate mentioned in our leases, so that leaves us at the mercy of continued rate increases for years to come. What’s the increase going to be next year, $50 or $100, who knows? The word is, there’s no end in sight.”

The other fear that has haunted residents over the past two years is rumor that a local builder wants to buy the park, clear all residents from it and convert it to multifamily units. The idea of that eventuality really angers residents, many of whom have lived at Sea Air since the 1960s.

Sisk and tenants association members have met with Sun Communities representative Kevin Bennett, a vice president for sales and marketing. They say he has told them the park has not been sold. They asked for a written first-right-of-refusal agreement that would give the tenants the ability to match any offer made for Sea Air. They said Bennett seemed agreeable to that request, but it has not yet come to the association in written form.

“We’re on the right track, and we know it,” said Sisk. “This is going to be a landmark deal if we can close it, and we’re hoping for the best.”