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LAW OFFICES GILCHRIST &. RliTTT;i K Y I:OF&59I0!~AL ('CIRPOItATIOn Karen Diaz City Clerk City of Pleasanton Mazch 6, 2009 Page 2 Local Governments Have No Authorit~mpose Additional Conditions On Mobilehome Park Conversions. A. Local Government's Power Is Strictly I invited To Determining_If Owners Have Complied With Specific Requirements Of Government Code Section 66427.5. Under California law, local governments are clearly preempted from legislating in the area of mobilehome park Conversions. In El Dorado Palm Springs Ltd v City of Palm Springs, 96 Cal. App. 4th 1153 (2002) ("E] Dorado"), the California Court of Appeal directly addressed the limitations on local govennnent's authority in reviewing a mobilehome park Conversion application and held that local governments "only had the power to determine if (the applicant] had complied with the requirements of Section 66427.SJ." 96 Cal. App. 4th at 1163-64 (emphasis added). In fact, this law firm was responsible for successfully litigating this very issue in El Dorado, as well as in several trial court cases throughout California, discussed herein. In El Dorado, the City of Palm Springs ("Palm Springs") conditionally approved EI Dorado's mobilehome park Conversion application. However, the Palm Springs City Council imposed three conditions not found in Government Code section 66427.5. See id. at 1156-57. The Court of Appeal applied the plain and unambiguous language of the statute and held that Palm Springs had no power or authority to impose conditions on El Dorado's Conversion application other than those found in Section 66427.5. Although Palm Springs argued that the conditions it imposed were designed to prevent an abuse of the Conversion process by a possible fraudulent or "sham" Conversion intended only to avoid the local rent control ordinance, the Court found that "section 66427.5, subdivision (d) [now subd. (e)] provides that `The scope of the hearing shall be limited to the issue of compliance with this section.' Thus, the City lacks authority to investigate or impose additional conditions to prevent sham or fraudulent transactions at the time it approves the tentative or parcel map." Id. at 1165 (emphasis added). Accordingly, under El Dorado, local government authority is strictly limited to confirming that Conversion applications comply with the requirements contained in Government Code section 66427.5, which requires, in sum that: (i) existing tenants each receive an option to either purchase their lot or continue their tenancy; (ii) the applicant file a tenant impact report on the Conversion; (iii) the applicant submit a survey of support for the proposed Conversion by written ballot from the residents; (iv) the applicant shall be subject to a hearing by the local government limited to the issue of compliance with Section 66427.5; and, (v) state rent control, as detailed in subdivision (f), applies to all tenants who elect not to exercise their right to