The City hosted a second community meeting on May 20, for Leisure Bear residents, offering separate sessions in English and Spanish to discuss the current state of the Leisure Bear mobile park and to update residents on recent studies the City has completed. Five residents attended the English session, and eighteen attended the Spanish session. The attendees from the City included Assistant City Manager Sean Sullivan, Birtcher Anderson Davis Community Manager Heather Hadnot, Jeff Eales from Birtcher Anderson Davis and Mayor Pro Tem Kendi Segovia and Councilmember Rick Herrick, who comprise the Leisure Bear Subcommittee of the City Council. A copy of the presentation slides can be found on here: English and Spanish.
The presentation focused on sharing the initial findings from the master planning efforts of Birtcher Anderson & Davis and overviewing the preliminary costs associated with rehabilitating Leisure Bear. The master planning effort identified the need to completely replace most infrastructure within Leisure Bear, including all utility systems and roadways. The initial cost associated with these improvements is estimated to be nearly $10 Million based upon the current condition of the infrastructure and related project management other associated costs.
As the study’s estimates for the improvements to Leisure Bear are costly, the City team has identified some options for discussion and consideration as to how the City achieves its goal of improving the quality of life for the residents. As the City has been contemplating options for addressing the needs of Leisure Bear residents, the City has kept the following principles at the forefront of the decision making process:
- Improve the property and quality of life.
- Treat residents fairly.
- Listen to Leisure Bear’s needs and wants.
- Contemplate maximum public benefit for the entire Big Bear Lake community.
- Do not use General Fund to subsidize rents.
Ryder Smith of Tripepi Smith, who facilitated the meeting, shared some options about how to manage the improvement of Leisure Bear for the purpose of discussion and the exchanging of ideas. The options contemplated include:
- Raising rents to fund the needed infrastructure improvements.
- Relocating the Leisure Bear Community to a new mobile home park or to available spaces within existing parks throughout the Big Bear Valley.
- Implementing a voluntary buyout program.
- Consider a phased wind down of Leisure Bear.
These options garnered discussion and feedback amongst the attendees at the meeting. The options, including supporting details and more information, are better outlined within the Powerpoint presentation from the meeting.
“The City is continuing the master planning effort and information gathering associated with the assessment of the 19-acre site, of which Leisure Bear is a large part. The City appreciates the dialogue and discussion amongst the residents, which is critical to charting a path forward” said Assistant City Manager Sean Sullivan, and primary project manager of the 19-acre site which includes the property that fronts on the lake.
To support further detailed research, the City has engaged Overland, Pacific, and Cutler (OPC), a firm specializing in mobile home park consulting. Through the rest of 2024, this firm will conduct an in-depth review of residents’ economic and living circumstances to help the City explore available options for Leisure Bear residents, which is part of a document known as a Relocation Impact Report. OPC will be initiating by early July and the City will continue to communicate with the residents about this process. It will be critical for all residents to participate in discussions with the OPC team as this feedback and information will be important to shaping the future of Leisure Bear.
“A critical element of the City’s ability to respond to resident needs is the preparation of a Relocation Impact Report. The Report focuses on the individual needs of the residents. Despite the title of the report, the City is not initiating a relocation process by starting this report,” explained Sullivan. “I encourage all residents to engage with the City and to participate in the processes with the consultants as your feedback matters and will absolutely be considered in shaping the future of Leisure Bear.”
During the meeting, the City encouraged residents to continue discussing specific issues needing attention and, as such, the residents expressed concerns associated with dogs, streets, speed bumps and lights for the Leisure Bear Park Sign. Also, a robust discussion ensued about issues with individual units needing to turn off the water to make plumbing repairs. In response to the last item, Birtcher Anderson is working to schedule a coordinated water shutoff to help residents address water leaks in individual homes. The team is working on addressing the expressed concerns and hopes to have updates on these items in the next edition of this newsletter.
The City anticipates that the Master Planning efforts will be completed towards the end of 2024 and a follow-up meeting will be planned for closer to that time. Please stay tuned for more details.
For questions or further information, contact leisurebear@tripepismith.com or call (844) 225-2327.