Heartfelt e-mails, letters and about 25 pleading speakers seemed to touch the hearts of City Council members Tuesday night. It was as if three Christmas ghosts had visited the panel during the cold night.

Mobile home park owners came to the meeting armed with sharply penned words criticizing a council they were convinced just didn't like mobile home parks.

Adults among the 200 people- newborn babies, sleepy schoolchildren doing homework, disabled seniors- who came out on the rainy night obviously felt the council was against them, aside from Claudia Bill-de la Peña, who met Dec. 5 with members of the group.

But the desperate contingent put their prepared speaking notes away after each council member criticized all of the options that city staffers had put before them.

"We have a problem with all the options we have before us," said newly sworn-in Mayor Jacquie Irwin.

Councilmember Dennis Gillette said that if the end result is that 50 households lose everything they have and are cast adrift, he wants to make sure the council has exhausted every possibility before he accepts it.

"We need to roll up our sleeves and thoroughly evaluate what can be done," Gillette said.

Solutions such as equity sharing, the city purchasing the property with redevelopment money, the city assisting in negotiations between owners and residents and other detailed and creative options needed to be explored, council members said.

The public hearing took place during the regular council meeting.

"I agree with everything that was said tonight. I wish we had started sooner," Bill-de la Peña said. Many of those who live at local mobile home parks are extremely low income people who work in hospitals and restaurants, she said.

They have no place to go and will lose everything, Bill-de la Peña said, adding that she's been trying since last summer to work with the city's staff to come up with better solutions, but has encountered resistance.

Council members unanimously found unacceptable the staff recommendation to change two parks' General Plan land use designation from commercial to high density residential.

The panel voted 5-0 to send the issue back to the staff for work, with Councilmember Andy Fox taking the lead in opening discussions that will include residents, owners and city representatives.

The council plans to revisit the issue that affects the neighboring Conejo Mobile Home Park, 1200 Newbury Road, and Elms Plaza Mobile Home Park, 1262 Newbury Road, at its Jan. 22 meeting.

A decision on the fate of the Crestview, 53 N. Conejo School Road, and Twin Palms, 198 Skyline Drive, mobile home parks was also delayed. The staff wanted to set the two parks aside to see if they can be included in the Thousand Oaks specific plan.

The dispute began two years ago when the owner of Conejo Mobile Home Park wanted to change the zoning so he could build a facility for disabled seniors. That would have displaced the renters.

At that time the council directed staff to return with recommendations on how state laws and city ordinances could be used to help residents of mobile home parks.

The city has twice extended a moratorium now set to expire Feb. 1 that kept the Conejo Mobile Home Park open while changes were considered to the city's municipal code.

On March 21, 2006, the council adopted an ordinance that regulates the process of closing mobile home parks.

The new law included a requirement of a minimum of two years' notice before a closure. State law allows closing a mobile home park if the owner wants it closed.

City staffers said there's nothing, including changing the zoning, that a city can do to stop a park from closing.

When the state required the city to allow zoning to accommodate 1,847 more housing units, the city staff seemed to change its focus from finding ways city and state laws could be used to help mobile home park residents.

Measure E, a city ordinance approved by voters to protect residents from changes to the General Plan without a public vote, staff said, won't be triggered, due to something called a "Measure E credit."

According to the staff, Thousand Oaks can add 486 dwelling units without a public vote, so the rezoning of mobile home park land to high-density residential- at least 30 units per acre- - and increasing the density in Conejo Mobile Home Park by 128 units can be accomplished without a Measure E vote.