LAKE COUNTY — After discussing a measure to protect mobile home park dwellers for more than an hour Tuesday, the Lake County Board of Supervisors took no action.
The board considered an ordinance County Council Anita Grant drafted. The ordinance would have established procedures designed to prevent exorbitant rent increases in mobile home parks in the unincorporated areas of the county. Board Chairwoman Denise Rushing said no vote was taken because at least three members of the five-member board were opposed to the idea of regulating the industry.
“We are not going to vote on it today, but that means it can be voted on in the future,” Rushing said.
The ordinance would have applied to mobile home park owners who did not agree to voluntarily offer a lease supplement designed to provide rent stability. A task force worked for two and a half years to develop the much-contended supplement, which would allow annual rent increases based on the consumer price index.
Mobile home park owner Maryanne McQueen, who collected responses from park owners in the unincorporated areas of the county, told the board approximately 82 percent of park owners volunteered to offer the lease to tenants. She said out of 73 mobile home parks in the county, seven had not responded. In a December update, McQueen told the board approximately 38 percent of the county”s park owners volunteered to offer the lease supplement.
At a November meeting on the rent stability measure, Supervisor Anthony Farrington said he wanted all of the county”s park owners to voluntarily offer the lease, or the board would consider enforcing rent control. Supervisors Jim Comstock, Jeff Smith and Rob Brown expressed reluctance to take the regulatory approach.
“To expect 100 percent compliance on anything voluntary would have been unrealistic,” Comstock said.
Comstock, Smith and Brown cited an existing requirement that park owners notify tenants 90 days before a rent increase, and noted that the board has the power to stop the increase.
“That, in and of itself, is a regulation. I feel that if we can do this voluntarily with that as the hammer I think that meets everyone”s needs,” Comstock said.
Doug Johnson of Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association said park owners should be allowed to voluntarily comply. He said Lake County had one of the highest numbers of mobile home parks in the state, and called the 82 percent compliance a success.
“The problem with this rent control ordinance is it”s going to blow up the process. No one else will sign that long-term lease ? why would they?” Johnson said.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636 ext. 37.
