Mobile home park threatened by erosion demolished in Fountain

El Paso County has nearly completed tearing down several dozen old mobile homes at the former site of the Riverside Mobile Home Park in Fountain.

Demolition began last month on the Crest Drive property and should be finished by the end of May.

The 26 mobile homes and four houses were abandoned last year after the county relocated the residents to other housing.

Officials said the homes — built before safety standards changed in 1976 — contained asbestos and lead paint and couldn’t be moved to other locations.

The demolition and relocation were necessary because the homes are atop a bluff on Fountain Creek and the bluff was seriously eroded by flooding in 2013 and 2014.

The county acquired around $3 million in federal grant funds to buy the park property, relocate the residents and demolish the homes.

This fall, the county will start a $2.7 million project to adjust the creek flow contributing to the erosion.

That project should be finished next spring.

Officials said after the demolition, the property will become an open space trailhead.

Neighbors said the mobile home park has existed for at least 50 years, and they are glad to see the demolition because the vacant homes were an eyesore and attracted suspicious people.