$23.1 million sought in fight against new law restricting condo-style conversions

The owners of Country Mobile Home Park in Santa Rosa sued the city Friday, seeking $23.1 million in damages because the city in May enacted restrictions on condo-style conversions.

One suit, filed in Sonoma County Superior Court, claims the city "unlawfully stymied" Country Mobile Investments' attempt to sell land at the park on Fulton Road when they passed the ordinance last month.

A second suit, also filed Friday, seeks to overturn the city's new ordinance.

"The city has decided it doesn't want that to happen so it passed these rules, which in our opinion, is illegal," said Richard Close, attorney for Country Mobile Investments and scores of other park owners in California.

With the condo conversions, each mobile home rental space becomes a tiny land parcel that can be bought and sold and parks are no longer subject to local rent control laws.

Affordable housing advocates accuse park owners of greed and contend conversion will dramatically reduce low-cost housing options.

The suit comes six months after Close filed a similar suit against Sonoma County supervisors. Close said Friday he is now preparing a suit against Rohnert Park, which recently rejected a plan to convert the Rancho Verde Mobile Home Park to a condo-style park.

State law dictates how mobile home parks can be converted to condominium-style ownership, Close said. "The city cannot impose more roadblocks in the process," he said.

The Santa Rosa ordinance is less stringent than that adopted by the county, a fact that led city leaders to conclude when they adopted it last month that it would withstand legal challenge.

The county law requires park owners to secure the approval of 20 percent of their residents before filing an application to convert and then getting support from more than 50 percent once the application has been processed.

Santa Rosa's ordinance -- which went into effect immediately upon passage May 8 -- contains no such requirement.

Instead, it requires that park owners prove their parks meet building codes and that their roads, sewer, water and utility systems are in good condition prior to conversion.

City Attorney Brien Farrell said Friday he had not seen the lawsuit, but predicted the city would prevail. "I'm confident that the city's ordinance is defensible and will survive judicial scrutiny," he said.

When a park undergoes conversion, individual mobile home lots can be sold to current tenants. Once converted, local rent control laws no longer apply, although a state rent control law protects low-income residents.

But those protections would be wiped out if those low-income tenants move, purchase a lot or die, according to city officials.

"(Conversion) would make most of the homes in the park unaffordable to lower-income residents," said David Grabill, an affordable housing advocate who represents residents' associations in five mobile home parks in the county.

The state Assembly approved a bill this month that would give cities greater oversight over conversions and allow local rent control laws to remain in place for tenants who don't buy their parcel. The bill by Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, is set for a committee hearing in the state Senate in July.

Grabill called park owners greedy and said Close "specializes in terrorizing cities."

"He tries to bully his way to getting these things approved and knows that cities don't have a whole lot of money in their litigation budget," he said.

But Close said park owners can't force anyone to buy their plot, and said the rents of low-income residents are protected by state law, whether a conversion occurs or not.

"They can either buy their space at its fair market value or continue to rent in the park for as long as they live," he said. "Right now, all they have is rent receipts; they don't own the land."

Close said legal wrangling could take years, but he said he expects to win "a large check."

"All of the taxpayers are at risk because of the city's action," he said.

Close prevailed in a lawsuit against Palm Springs, winning a $500,000 judgment in 2002 in a case involving a mobile home park conversion.

You can reach Staff Writer Kerry Benefield at 526-8671 or

kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com.