Mobile home residents unhappy with city's latest plan
By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers EXPLAINING THE DETAILS- - Thousand Oaks City Manager Scott Mitnick speaks to residents of Conejo Mobile Home Park at an informational meeting last Saturday at Akrey's in Newbury Park.

Councilmember Andy Fox brought 12 city staff members, folding chairs, bottled water, oatmeal cookies and Starbucks coffee to a tavern next door to the Conejo Mobile Home Park. There he spent three hours on Saturday pleading with about 30 residents to let the city help them individually so no one will be left homeless after the park closes.

Many who live at the mobile home park didn't want to hear Fox's message. They had come to learn how the city was going to help them keep their park open, not to hear how Fox was going to help the owner close it, according to Penny Mayou.

Her mobile home had once been appraised at $125,000. Now she's being offered $25,000, and that's unacceptable, she said.

Resistance to Fox's message turned what was supposed to be a 90minute meeting into a discussion twice as long.

After having met with the park's owner, Joseph Bednar, Fox told those residents that Bednar has previously said and continues to say he's going to close the park. City Attorney Amy Albano, City Manager Scott Mitnick and Fox reminded those who live in the park that it's the property owner's right to close the park and the city can do nothing to stop it.

"He can close the park and leave this property an empty field for the rest of his life. This is the United States of America, and that is his right," Fox said.

During a two-year moratorium imposed by the city that's over at the end of January, the city blocked the owner's plans to close the park for as long as the state would allow it to do so.

During that time, homeowners association president Richard Erickson tried to get a loan for the HOA to buy the property. Erickson died in July 2007, leaving the park residents to mourn the loss of their leader, fend for themselves and begin from square one as the moratorium clock kept ticking away.

At Saturday's meeting Fox explained to the crowd that the mobile home park that's occupied the same spot since the 1930s isn't consistent with the city's General Plan created in 1970. The General Plan designated the site, 1200 Newbury Road, as commercial, not residential.

Because of that, Bednar was able to purchase the land in May 2005 not as a mobile home park, but as commercial property, where he planned to open an assisted living facility for seniors along with medical office space.

Some at Saturday's meeting wanted to talk about the injustice of that plan or about the possibility of help for park residents from the state.

Fox explained he was in fifth grade and had nothing to do with the creation of the 1970 General Plan. He also said the state is focused on financial concerns at this time and mobile home parks would be a low priority.

"We have to deal with the now," he said.

He emphasized that the city did not want any of them to be left homeless when the park closed.

Fox asked each person attending to fill out an information form so someone from the city could contact them individually. Residents expressed reluctance to do that, fearing Fox was working with Bednar against them, Mayou said.

"We're being bullied into giving out our personal information," HOA president Dan Douglas said.

"These people really should have a lawyer here to represent them," former planning commissioner Janet Wall said. She was attending as a representative of one of the residents, who, thinking she was still on the planning commission, called her seeking help.

"The city has the money to buy this property," Wall said.

In response to why the city wouldn't get into the mobile home park business, Fox said it would cost about $5 million to buy it and $2 million to fix the infrastructure. That money would come out of the city's general funds. Then other people in financial crisis would want the city to assist them as well, he said.

"If I could solve this problem by throwing money at it, believe me I would," Fox said.

He said he gets their problem. His parents, both in their 80s, live in a mobile home park in Thousand Oaks.

"The city has given money to Many Mansions; why not us?" asked resident Ben G. Parar.

The city has also used millions of dollars of redevelopment money to help the parking situation at the auto mall and the updating of other businesses.

Fox said changing the site's designation to residential would bring the park into compliance with the city's General Plan. He said zoning it high density would mean that some of the units built on the property would be for low-income residents and he would work to make it so those among them who qualified would be first in line for those units.

He said he needed their personal information so the city could focus on each individual's specific needs to try to help them the best it could.

"We're all in this together. We're going to stick together," Torres said.

"We don't trust the city anymore," Douglas said.