LANCASTER, Ky. (LEX 18) — "I don’t want to go,” that’s what long-time King’s Mill Marina resident Connie Phillips said.
Phillips has lived at the Garrard County marina for nearly three years. At 71 years old, she says moving here was her dream.
"Yes, my house is up for sale, and I hate it. I've tried not to cry all day. It's been really hard,” says Phillips.
She says she's spent around $30,000 remodeling her place. Now, she's having to pack it all up.
Phillips says, "I was always taking a picture of me with my legs propped up with a cup of coffee and my fishing pole in the water in the mornings and I always put my happy place... Because when you go out on my deck it's a whole different world."
The marina was recently bought near the end of February. The community says the marina's previous owner operated it for more than 20 years. They explain when the new owners took over, they thought the plan was to restore the area.
Part-time resident William Stauffer said "You know they were telling everybody of their plans and we were all really excited and were really hopeful. They, you know they said they wanted to section by section rebuild the marina brand new."
Now, residents have been asked to move out. They say they weren't given proper notice. Some say they only got a 24-hour heads-up.
Another resident, Kaylee Gilpin, said, "It takes time to move your stuff out, it takes time for somewhere to go and you can’t just throw it on us. You know and the way that it's been done it's professional in any way of courtesy to either one of us."
The property's operations manager, Frank Ruggiero, says the original plan was to restore this area. He says residents were verbally notified on March 4 that they would have 30 days to vacate.
He said, "We did give them until April 4th but the situation changes down there every day. With the level of the lake and everything it's just become too dangerous to be there."
Ruggiero says there are three full-time residents at the marina. He says the date got moved up because of safety concerns.
"There's exposed electric lines running all through the water, the docks are rotting and falling apart,” said Ruggiero.
Stauffer says he knows this marina needs work, but his concern is about the way he feels residents here are being treated.
He said, "They can’t just force people out without giving them a legal written notice. A month-to-month rent landlord tenant laws, require a 30-day written notice."
Stauffer says he has friends down the road that will allow some of the residents to relocate for up to a year but these residents say the cost of moving and finding another marina is hard.
Phillips says, "I’m loading my truck up and my car and heading to my daughter's. I don’t wanna. I really don’t wanna."
