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Victor Maccharoli- Rancho Mobile Homes in Goleta.

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Mobile home park owners want overhaul

By JOSHUA MOLINA — Feb. 18, 2009

Waving signs and banners, a crowd of more than 100 people jam-packed the Goleta City Council chambers last night, in a dramatic attempt to block developers from overhauling their mobile home park.

The owners of Rancho Mobile Home Park, 7465 Hollister Avenue, want turn the rent-controlled park into for-sale units, a move that resident fear would force them out of the homes or weaken their ability to sell the mobile homes.

The park is home to more than 150 residents, many of them senior citizens on fixed incomes. While the owners, the Dan & Susan Guggenheim Trust, have taken several steps to lessen any immediate financial impacts on the renters, residents worry that turning their homes from rentals to for-sale units, would be the first step toward eventually driving them out of the places some of them have called home since the 1950s.

“I honestly don’t know what is going to happen to us,” said Debbie Barajas, who is disabled and pays $600 to rent her mobile home space. “There’s no light at the end of the tunnel. We are going to get run over. Nothing is going to stop it.”

The complex land use proposal is the latest headache for the Goleta City Council, still trying to gain its footing since it incorporated in 2002.

While many long time residents have fought to preserve Goleta’s folksy charm and suburban appeal, a growing number of pro-business advocates have consistently pushed Goleta to become a more modern community, with high-end hotels, luxury housing and big box retail stores.

The clash has played out frequently at City Council meetings in recent years and last night’s wrangling was the latest flashpoint for a city still struggling to gain its identity.

Ranch Mobile Home Park was built in the 1940s with only 78 mobile home spaces. Over time, the park grew to its current configuration of 150 units. The developer's proposal calls for converting the 18 acres of rent-controlled mobile homes into for-sale mobile homes.

As of press time late last night, the City Council was still debating the details of the proposal.

The developers have taken several steps to ensure that residents would not be immediately forced out.

 According to the terms of the proposal, residents would be given the first opportunity to purchase the lot the mobile home sits on.

The developer has agreed to finance up to 15 percent of the purchase price at a loan rate of 5 percent over 20 years. The sales price of the lot will be based on a new, independent appraisal. It would be discounted by 15 percent to current park residents.

Several other provisions are in place for low- and moderate-income households to make it more financially palatable for them to remain in their homes. Essentially, in these cases, residents would not seen increases beyond the annual consumer price index, according city planners.

City officials framed the proposal as a good thing for residents.

“No one is going to be evicted by this plan,” said City Attorney Tim Giles. “No on is going to be turned out. This is an opportunity to buy.”

Richard Close, an attorney for Gilchrist & Rudder, the firm representing the property owners, told the council that residents will have more options once the units are turned into for-sale homes.

“In reality, the value is in the land and historically residents haven’t been able to purchase lands,” Close said. “We think this is in the best interests of both the owner, the residents and the city.”

The project has a long, troubled history.

The city and the developer have been tied up in litigation over the project for the last three years. An initial study in 2006 concluded that a potential displacement of current park residents would trigger a full environmental analysis because of the possibility that replacement housing would need to be constructed elsewhere in the city.

 The superior court ruled, however, that the effect of displacing residents on the environment was too speculative to warrant a full analysis. The city of Goleta appealed that decision, which is still tangled up in court. The developer has also challenged the legality of the city's rent control ordinance.

 The proposal before the City of Goleta, which is backed by city staffers, is an attempt to resolve much of the court issues and allow the project to move forward.

Still, many longtime residents were not encouraged the direction the project was headed.

 “If this goes through, I will have to leave,” said Edna Nephew, who has lived at the park since 1985. “A lot of people are senior citizens. What’s going to happen to them?”

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Mobile Home Park : 2/19/2009

There is land on Hollister across from Costco that is zoned for Mobile Homes. Why not encourage more new lower cost housing on that empty land between Hollister and the freeway. Let people come in fresh with own your own Mobile home or affordable condos on land that is just sitting. The owners are probably waiting for a rezone so they can build luxury house which there are already enough of. Does anyone know why that land continues to sit empty when it is zoned for a mobile park that could bring more affordable housing to Goleta?

cjbowdish

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