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Moreover, the Agreement has a more detailed and more expedited dispute resolution <br />process. One of the complaints that the residents expressed to the Council was that the <br />existing Agreement had no teeth to compel the owner to meet his obligations and <br />therefore they wanted an ordinance which they felt would have more bite. The existing <br />agreement does have a dispute resolution process (binding arbitration) which, when <br />drafted, was viewed as better than the previous process that involved a "mobilehome <br />committee" that proved particularly unwieldy. Unfortunately, employing the arbitration <br />process was similarly difficult. The proposed Agreement, by contrast, incorporates the <br />City's Administrative Citation provisions into it and will allow disputes that cannot be <br />resolved at the City Manager level to be heard, expeditiously, by a neutral hearing <br />officer who hears administrative citation matters on a monthly (or more frequent) basis. <br />That hearing officer can impose fines and order work to be done, both of which can be <br />enforced through normal court proceedings. Ultimately, of course, should the owner <br />simply not abide by the agreement, there is now an express termination provision <br />which, if employed, would result in the application of the Mobilehome Rent Stabilization <br />Ordinance being applied to this Park. <br />Given the level of resident support for this Agreement, staff recommends that Council <br />approve the agreement. If the owner chooses to ignore its terms, not only does the <br />owner stand to lose substantial rent but also to have the Ordinance apply to the Park. <br />Key Elements of the Fairview Trailer Park Agreement <br />The Fairview Trailer Park is a relatively small mobilehome park, consisting of only 22 <br />spaces and without the clubhouse, swimming pool and greenbelt found in the other <br />parks. Of the 22 spaces, 10 are occupied by RV's; the remainder are "single wide" <br />mobile homes. The Park has no age restrictions. As a result, historically the rents in <br />this park have been somewhat less than the two other parks. <br />The proposed agreement with these park owners track in large measure the prior <br />agreement. Rents will be adjusted annually by the Cost of Living, with a 2% floor and a <br />5% ceiling. When a new resident moves into the Park (called a "Transfer of Ownership" <br />in the Agreement), the park owner may adjust the rent, starting at $750 in 2008 and <br />increasing in $25/year increments. The park owner advises, however, that he generally <br />does not charge the highest rent possible. Moreover, unlike the other two park owners, <br />this park's capital improvements are relatively modest and typically if such <br />improvements are repaired or replaced, the owner has not passed the cost on to the <br />residents. The Agreement provides, however, that such repairs or replacement of <br />capital improvements over $2000 may be amortized and passed on to the residents. <br />Because this Agreement is straight forward and basically the same as the previous <br />agreement, and because the City has received only a few calls about this park (and <br />those calls have centered on a problem with tree branches on an adjoining property), <br />the residents of this park were not asked to vote on this Agreement. <br />Page 6 of 7 <br />