T.O. planning commissioners side with owners of mobile homes

The owner of Vallecito Mobile Home Estates park has been denied approval to convert the senior park from rental to individual resident ownership. The planning commission vote was unanimous, 5-0.

"The most beautiful mobile home park in the community due to the resident's landscaping," according to planning commissioner Daryl Reynolds, will continue to provide low-income housing to seniors.

The planning commission agreed with staff recommendations to deny the subdivision of 303 mobile home park units at 1251 Old Conejo Road into property that could be sold individually.

The property is designated Mobile Home Exclusive and is zoned Trailer Park Development. The park comes under the 1980 Mobile Home Rent Stabilization Ordinance that restricts rents. The restrictions on increasing rents would have ended if the conversion had gone through and one of the lots had been sold.

The Monday night meeting lasted until 10:30, with many residents speaking out against the conversion.

After the meeting Planning Commissioner Al Adam said since the majority of the residents didn't want the conversion and only four residents did, it wasn't a bona fide resident conversion. He also said the commission was unable to analyze the impact the conversion would have had on the residents because the owner wouldn't say how much the parcels would be sold for.

"Our general plan fosters affordable housing. If we lost Vallecito, we'd lose 25 percent of our mobile home park affordable housing," Adam said.

If that had happened, Vallecito resident Marylyn Philips, 78, wouldn't have known where to go.

"I guess I'd be living in my car," the widow said.

She's lived at the mobile home park for about 20 years and hopes to stay there for the rest of her life. She lives carefully on a fixed income and can pay her bills but wouldn't have been able to afford to buy the land under her coach, she said.

Last week the commission voted 3-2 to deny an application to close Conejo Mobile Home Park, 1200 Newbury Road, and lower the amount paid to relocate residents. The park owner, Joseph Bednar, said he wants to use the land the mobile home park is on to build medical buildings