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THE CITY OF ~ ~ ~~.~ ~ ~wI-u ~1- =Tfiii w m ':i::fl~ 1 ~ ii 1 j~L~E ~S~4NTON® Date: Febniary 19, 2009 To: Chair and Members of the Planning Commission From: Office of the City Attorney ATTACHMENT 9 Subject: Conversion of the Vineyard Villa Mobilehome Yark to Residential Ownership The conversion of the Vineyard Villa Mobilehome Park 'to residential ownership was scheduled for the Commission's January 28, 2009, meeting. Duc to a number of questions that members of the Commission raised following their receipt of the agenda materials, the item was continued to February 25 in order to provide ample time for staff to respond to I:hose questions. The information below provides some additional background information for the Commission and also discusses some of the legal issues (in general terms) concerning the proposed conversion. The Commission's questions and staff's responses are attached. in some instances the responses refer the Commission to sections of this memo. Background Vineyard Villa 'The Vineyard Villa Mobilehome Park is a 208 unit mobilchome park located at 3263 Vineyard Avenue. It was approved in the late 1960's and developed in the early 1970's. The Park's rules and regulations require that the manufactured units within the Park be owner occupied and be operated as a senior park, i.e., at least one of the residents of each unit must be at least 55 years old. Vineyard Villa, like the other mobile home and trailer parks in the City, is a rental Park, meaning that residents own their own units but the land upon which the units sit is owned by the Park Owner. The residents therefore pay monthly rent to the Park owner; they also pay their own utilities, such as gas, electricity and cable television. (Historically, the residents' water [and therefore sewer] charges were part of the monthly rent but the Park Owner recently, as allowed by the Civil Code, unbundled those charges, meaning that the Owner is now itemizing these charges; the overall rent, however, has not changed. If water [or sewer] rates are raised, the residents will be billed the higher amounts. Those residents in the Park who qualify for a senior discount under the City's water regulations have received, and will continue to receive, that discount.) Rent Control Generally Although the units within the Park are called "mobile homes", they are not actually mobile. Typically, once the unit is placed with the Park, the resident makes a substantial investment in securing the unit to the land. Removing or relocating the unit is not practical. Accordingly, when a resident wants to move out of the Park, the resident typically sells his/her unit in place to a new resident, who then occupies the unit and pays rent to the Park owner. In recognition that mobile homes were not all that mobile,