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MyspaceMobile home owners in Goleta are breathing collective signs of relief this week, as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently decided to re-hear the city’s mobile home rent control ordinance this June.
The ordinance, which controls the rent paid by mobile home owners for the space upon which their homes sit, was enacted by the County of Santa Barbara in 1979, updated in 1987, and then adopted by the City of Goleta when it incorporated in 2002. But last fall, a three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit determined in a split decision that the ordinance amounted to a “regulatory taking” and ordered the city to pay damages to Daniel Guggenheim, who bought Rancho Mobile Homes Park in 1997.
The city’s appeal of that decision was supported by both the Golden State Manufactured Home Owners League and the League of California Cities, which represents the more than 100 other municipalities with existing mobile home rent control ordinances who might be forced to pay damages if the initial decision stuck. The relatively rare move for the Ninth Circuit to re-hear the case en banc — which means with 11 judges present — has Goleta’s mobile home owners hopeful that their controlled rent increases will remain.
The initial decision was “way off-base,” said Ken Tatro, spokesperson for the Goleta Mobile Home Owners Coalition, which represents the four parks within city limits and their roughly 1,300 residents. He explained, “For them to hear it is encouraging for us because, obviously, they must think that there are problems with it.”
The rent control ordinance is a separate matter from the equally controversial issue of converting Rancho Mobile Home Park into a condo-like ownership scheme, in which residents who currently rent their plot would be forced to either purchase the plot for market value or leave. That conversion was approved by the City of Goleta under threat of lawsuit from Guggenheim back in February 2009, and is currently the subject of a lawsuit that was filed by Tatro’s association.
The Ninth Circuit will hear the case in a Pasadena courtroom the week of June 21.
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Comments
OK, I am a big fan of property rights, but let me get this straight:
Rent Control "was enacted by the County of Santa Barbara in 1979, updated in 1987, and then adopted by the City of Goleta when it incorporated in 2002."
Then this guy comes along and buys "Rancho Mobile Homes Park in 1997" KNOWING this law is in place, but is gambling on being able to get away with his plans to...yep...take property from the owners of the mobile homes!
So...SOME of us have "property rights"....and others don't.
Because you see...the owner of the coach owns the coach and rents the land, subject to the whims of the property owner. The resident has to BUY the coach, at a ridiculously inflated price...simply because it is in Santa Barbara. What would be a $10,000.00 coach anywhere else, with a little fenced grass yard and carport, is $350,000.00 because it is sitting on a hot asphalt parking lot in Santa Barbara.
The 10k coach is in a park that is more like a real neighborhood. You can have pets....fancy that! You can have your family or friends visit and even stay overnight. You can park your car out front if you choose. Your space rent is about $250.00 and that includes water and sometimes electricity.
In SB, it's 5x that, no pets, no guests, no parking out front, and your "yard" is more hot asphalt, with rocks and gravel for decoration.
Hmm...tough choice. NOT.
Then you have to worry about some speculator slithering in and snarking up the asphalt your house is parked on, then he spends decades and a fortune squirming around looking for a crack he can ooze through and thus, take YOUR property..IE...your coach.
It's disgusting.
If someone moves next to an airport, there is GOING to be airplane noise and smells. Don't gripe about it or try to shut down the airport.
When are we EVER going to put our foot down as a society and stop this nonsense? This guy bought that place with a clear plan to take over and make it yet another playground for the rich.
And we wonder where all the homeless people are coming from?
Holly (anonymous profile)
March 19, 2010 at 3:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)