“I would consider that a lot,” he said.

A handful of residents have had numerous run-ins with the law: DUIs, battery, possession of drugs with intent to sell. However, court records indicate most of these offenses happened years before they resided in the trailer park.

Tenants

One of the trailer park’s oldest residents is Ernie Knight, whose hands shake as he walks with a cane, though he refuses a walker.

Originally from Lubbock, Texas, he’s lived in his blue and white mobile home for nearly 19 years. Previously occupied by a niece, his only local family member, he estimates the home has been on the property for nearly 40 years. He moved to Cloverdale in 1970.

“I been here for most of my life,” he said with a tinge of a Texas drawl.

Now 15 years retired from MGM Brakes, a brake manufacturer and distributor in Cloverdale, he wants to stay in the county.

“I’m trying to get into some low-income housing in Healdsburg and Windsor, but the problem is they’re not built yet,” he said. He pays about $400 for his space, plus a Pacific Gas & Electric bill of over $100 a month.

He has an application for a low-income complex in town, but he was told the wait list is about two to three years long.

“Everything is full,” he said.

He, like the rest of the residents, doesn’t have time for a yearslong wait list.

“Sixty days isn’t enough for anybody to get out of here,” he said.

Residents heard rumors of an impending sale years ago, but they weren’t sure when it would happen.

“Almost until the day these people took over, we really didn’t know it had been sold,” said Peterson, who found out about the sale on July 27 via text from someone close to Gerdes.

After Peterson’s husband died two years ago, living without his income made life harder and complicated the search for a new spot.

“It’s not just the spot you’re looking at. I mean, there’s other factors with the trailer … you have PG&E. You also have propane, because they’re not natural gas. And then you have water, sewer, garbage, all that stuff. Prices change, everything is going up,” she said.

They live on a fixed disability income, and their primary medical providers are all in Sonoma County, with some “right here in town,” Peterson said.

She has lived on the property for nearly 12 years with her adult daughter, Kimberly, who suffered from a traumatic brain injury at age 9.

Since Peterson receives ongoing testing and she and her daughter see specialists who’ve spent years with them, they’d rather not change their medical providers.

Raised in the city of Sonoma, she’d like to stay in the county but finding a place to accommodate her 40-foot trailer also seems unlikely.

“It’s going to be a toss up whether feasibility or affordability wins out,” she said. She’s considering moving to Mendocino County with her son, but that’s a last resort decision.

“Me, I’m in a fifth-wheel, so yeah, I can pick it up and move it, but there are other people here who live here who can’t do that. They can’t even take their homes with them,” she said, referring to the long-occupied mobile homes that are simply too old to move and have seemingly fused into the ground.

She, like many others, are saddened by the possibility of having to leave considering the connections they’ve fortified over the years.

“If anybody here needs something, there’s always someone here who will help,” Peterson said.

Others in the community also want to stay in the county, but their downturned faces and hunched shoulders say everything before their words: they’ll likely move further north to Lake or Mendocino counties. That is, if they can find an affordable apartment, a home to rent, or a space to park their trailer or mobile home.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pressreno.