The eviction notices posted at the Salt Lake City park, 976 S. 200 East, scared away her family and her aunt.

But in the three days since they left, Montoya's mobile home has been seriously damaged, and she says many of her husband's tools have been stolen.

"We are angry and sad," the 29-year-old said through a interpreter. "We have lived here for so much time. . . . I feel like we have no rights."

Montoya has lived in the park with her husband and two children for nearly four years. The family moved out of an apartment and to the park to "have a place for my children to play."

But now, new owners, developer Ryan Bailey and a partner, have bought the property and are evicting residents to make way for the Belmont Downtown Condominiums. Posted notices say residents must be out by April 13.

Bailey did not return several calls seeking comment Saturday.

The movement at Pioneer repeats a trend occurring at mobile-home parks throughout the Salt Lake Valley and elsewhere as developers capitalize on rising property values.

Of Pioneer's 35 mobile homes, about a dozen are occupied. Some of the mobile homes, many of which are more than 40 years old, have been razed, leaving rusty nails on the ground and asbestos and insulation particles in the air, said Virginia Martinez, a community organizer for the Salt Lake Community Action Program.

"This is a disaster waiting to happen," she said, pointing to an abandoned mobile home perched precariously on two cinder blocks. "This could fall on a child."

Two kids have stepped on nails, and schoolchildren from the nearby Lincoln Elementary are playing in the rubble, Martinez said.

"I know that some of our families tell me they are worried about all the junk left around," said Tracy Vandeventer, principal at Lincoln Elementary. "They are also worried about the fact they are demolishing trailers adjacent to the ones being lived in."

Michael Stott, Salt Lake City community affairs analyst, has asked the developers to stop demolishing the mobile homes until the residents have left, Martinez said, but they haven't quit.

That isn't sitting well with Josie Valdez, administrator for Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson's office of diversity.

"That owner has to provide safety and security for the residents remaining there," Valdez said. "The city is between a rock and a hard place because we have to honor the rights of the owner, but we are assisting with relocation and low-income housing."

Making matters worse, the water was shut off to the residents Friday night. It was restored Saturday, but who stopped the flow and why remained unknown.

Some residents say they received notice in January they had to leave, but others maintain they did not get word until last month, if at all.

Bailey sent a notice saying those who leave by April 13 will not be pursued for any back rent or charged the fees for demolition of the homes. Residents who pay through March reportedly will have until April 30 to leave.

"Who would pay more rent just for an extra two weeks?" Martinez asked. "And who can move in two weeks?"

However, not all the residents see the eviction as a negative.

Jose Martinez, 81, has lived in the park for nearly 17 years, but his niece, Estella Martinez, is happy to see her uncle move.

"My uncle is going to move three blocks away into low-income apartments," she said. "For his health, that will be much better, and he's going to be near his friends and parish."

But with regard to others, she worries they will end up homeless, living under viaducts, as she has seen when other mobile-home parks have closed.

Montoya has found a house for her family and her aunt, but she doesn't know how they'll come up with the rent of $650, nearly double the cost at Pioneer Mobile Park.

"We're really struggling," she said. "I don't know what we'll do."

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* SHEENA MCFARLAND can be contacted at smcfarland@sltrib.com or 801-257-8619.