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BONITA SPRINGS — An appraisal by Lee County pegs the value of the Manna Christian Missions RV Park at $2 million.

That’s if the county chose to make an offer. The recommendation from the Division of County Lands is to pass.

The appraisal, by Michael Maxwell of Maxwell & Hendry, gives no value at all to the mobile homes and other improvements on the 20-acre property that was ravaged by flooding during Tropical Storm Fay in August.

“The improvements are in extremely poor condition and have been subject over the years to periodic flooding during heavy rains,” Maxwell wrote. “This appraisal will reflect no value for the improvements as they are in extremely poor condition and in fact uninhabitable.”

Actually, 26 of the homes at Manna Christian passed the post-flood inspection, and there are another 13 on a list needing repairs. The remainder of the 210 units were deemed uninhabitable.

County land appraiser Robert Clemens said it made more sense to appraise the property as bare land.

“I think the logic in this case was much more straightforward,” he said.

The alternative would be by income potential. County code enforcement director Bob Stewart said the park’s owner, Peter Quinn, reported receiving about $60,000 monthly, of which he spent about half operating the park.

“What’s an annuity that pays you $30,000 a month in perpetuity worth?” Stewart asked.

County commissioners asked for an appraisal after Fay’s floodwaters forced hundreds of residents into an Estero shelter for several weeks. The park has flooded repeatedly over the years, and commissioners have vowed they won’t let it continue to operate as an RV park.

The land is zoned for an RV park, not for permanent residency. However, mainly Hispanic low-income residents have made it a year-round home.

Stewart said that the rules allow RV park residents to stay for only a six-month period. That condition is unenforceable, he said.

“There is a residency requirement,” he said. “To make a case we have to be able to prove someone’s been living there for more than six months.”

That means watching someone round-the-clock for six months and a day.

We haven’t done that,” Stewart said. “Anywhere.”

Every RV park in the county in fact has the same six-month condition, Stewart said. Virtually none comply.

Clemens said from an appraisal point of view, the comparisons would have to be done with other RV parks, with the expectations of investors in those parks taken into account.

“It’s substandard,” he said. “They’d have to put money into it to bring up the infrastructure.”

Investors would likely also consider the risk of sinking money in a park that itself sinks below floodwaters on a regular basis.

Stewart said code compliance was complicated during October when the Florida Equal Justice Center entered the picture. Attorney Lisa Carmona warned Quinn that the trailers he’d been ordered by code enforcement to demolish were private property. Stewart said she’s trying to get FEMA inspections of the individual trailers so their owners might qualify for assistance.

“They asked us to suspend all timelines and we said no,” Stewart said. “We understand the trailers themselves don’t belong to Quinn, and the landlord can’t just smash the trailers. We knew we’d be adjusting the deadline as we went along.”

That extension so far is for 30 days, giving Quinn until November 26 to comply.

Quinn could not be reached for comment.

County commissioners are scheduled to discuss the appraisal and a possible next step at a Monday afternoon workshop.