Tiffany Revelle
Record-Bee staff
LAKE COUNTY ? The ordinance that gives protection to mobile home owners when the land on which they live is either converted from use as a mobile home park or closed as one ? popularly termed “the conversion ordinance ? was passed by a unanimous vote of the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
The decision met with applause from a roomful of senior citizens who showed up for the late-morning item on the agenda, which had been knocked around between the BOS, Mobile Home Task Force and the Planning Commission since April.
Most recently, the Planning Commission voted 3-2 Aug. 9 against adopting the ordinance, citing among other concerns a claim that “the ordinance adoption process has gone too quickly and the commission has not had adequate time to review the issues.”
There were a few changes to the ordinance to address concerns expressed Aug. 9 by the Planning Commission. They call for the ordinance to be mailed to all owners of mobile home parks on record in the county and for the owners to post it in a prominent location for all residents to see.
One point that was clarified was that the BOS has the final say in disputes. The memo to the board from the Community Development Department gave the example of a dispute over whether or not financial relocation assistance offered on a case-by-case basis would be enough, and recommended that the BOS resolve the dispute rather than the Planning Commission.
Andy Rossoff, directing attorney with the Senior Law Project who has observed the hammering-out process of the ordinance as it has ping-ponged between the three government bodies, explained the compensation after the meeting to mobile home owners standing by.
“If there is going to be a conversion of the park, the residents would be bought out, their mobiles would be bought out at the in-place value, or they would be given the money necessary to relocate that particular mobile in a comparable space in a comparable park,” said Rossoff.
“And that would be the moving costs and whatever it took to reconstruct decks and that sort of thing. There”s a limit ? they”ll only be given relocation costs up to the in-place value. So if it costs more to move it than the mobile is worth in place, then they are only getting in-place value,” Rossoff explained.
What defined in-place value was a sticking point during the Tuesday discussion. Mobile home park owner Maryanne McQueen brought up the issue when she expressed her concern that “adequate provisions for the relocation of all mobile homes and mobile home residents to be displaced as a result of conversion” could always be found, as the ordinance reads. She used the example of the value of a mobile on lake front property, asking if the resident might expect to be relocated to another piece of lake front property.
“The value of an Edsel in the junk yard is considerably less than the value of an Edsel in Jay Leno”s garage,” noted mobile home park resident Mike Benjamin, adding that for mobile home park residents, location was everything.
Dist. 1 Supervisor Ed Robey clarified that the ordinance defined clearly how value would be determined. “In this case it”s a market value approach,” Robey said. “It specifies, ?in place market value.” It says, ?such market value shall be determined after consideration of relevant factors including the value of the mobile home in its current location….” So it”s pretty clear to someone doing the appraisal what the parameters are that they”re going to be considering when they”re doing the appraisal.”
Gregory Cavness, who protested on the courthouse steps in May against what he said was a lack of action on the part of the BOS to enact rent control for mobile home park residents, said he was pleased with the ordinance”s passage Tuesday.
“I”m grateful to the Board of Supervisors because they”ve chosen to do the right thing and protect the property of some of the weakest and most vulnerable people in Lake County.”
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