Residents of the Poulsbo Mobile Home Park, some of whom are still reeling from fears of eviction in 2023, received yet another unpleasant surprise from park management after several vehicles were possessed by Kitsap Chico Towing with little to no warning in mid-November.

A Nov. 13 letter from Collective Communities – one which some residents claim they either received after the fact or not at all – states that as part of ongoing efforts to ensure the community’s safety and organization, it was reminding residents of its “Vehicle, Parking and Repair Guidelines” in the community’s rules and regulations.

“We understand that in the past, some of these rules may not have been consistently enforced. Moving forward, we will be actively upholding these regulations to enhance the safety, accessibility and overall experience for everybody in the community,” it says.

The letter indicates that the rules would be strictly enforced beginning Dec. 1, but GCS Investments co-owner Paras Shah said on-site management jumped the gun Nov. 13, resulting in removal of 11 vehicles from the private community. 18 vehicles were identified with violations, but management was able to contact the owners of seven of them to reduce the towing.

Six vehicles have been redeemed by their owners, and Shah said they are working to make sure the new financial burden placed on the other residents is minimized. “What we are trying to confirm with the towing company is what the fee was to redeem those cars, and at a minimum, we’re going to provide an $800 credit to those residents in January,” he said.

The remaining five cars, to the knowledge of Shah, are not registered to any of the residents. He said GCS has requested that Kitsap Chico Towing delay any auctioning of the cars until January 2025.

“We jumped the gun on it,” he said. “I don’t want to throw anybody under the bus, and we aren’t going to fire somebody over something like that.”

While Shah said he believes that the towings were proper from a legal standpoint given the community’s regulations, it’s another black eye to a community whose residents were faced with 20-day notices last year to complete exterior repairs and maintenance tasks to their homes or face eviction.

The notices prompted financial assistance from the city of Poulsbo and nearby nonprofits such as Fishline, and a volunteer group known as the Peninsula Support Organization Bluebills contributed efforts toward making physical repairs to the homes.

This latest series of events inside the park, which contains a heavy Spanish-speaking population, has Poulsbo providing some assistance yet again.

Housing, Health and Human Services director Kimberly Hendrickson said in the interest of providing a neutral source of information on the mobile home park and other issues that are useful to Spanish speakers, the city has hired a Spanish speaking communications liaison. That service will start Nov. 29 and will be available from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

Hendrickson clarified that the city does not represent the mobile home park or oversee its operations.

Onsite management at Poulsbo Mobile Home Park declined comment.