The Goleta City Council made strides on Tuesday in maintaining senior housing by approving a permanent and citywide senior mobile home park overlay district.
The council, in a 4-0-1 vote, approved an ordinance to amend city law relating to a senior mobile home park overlay district.
“This is really the only naturally occurring senior affordable housing that we have in this community,” Councilman James Kyriaco said.
“I have heard so many stories from residents about the way they’ve been treated, the information or lack of information that they have been provided, and it’s just been heartbreaking.”
It follows a temporary urgency ordinance approved by the City Council in February to prohibit University Mobile Home Park from converting into an all-ages park after new management took over the Old Town Goleta mobile home park at 520 Pine Ave.
University Mobile Home Park is one of five mobile home parks in Goleta.
“(The new owners) are horrific, and we are trying to stand together as a group in the park to get through this,” Dorie Rodriguez, a resident and the University Mobile Home Park representative president, said to the council during public comment.
The temporary urgency ordinance created a citywide senior mobile home park overlay district prohibiting the age change with provisions for violations by park management.
Councilman Stuart Kasdin abstained from voting Tuesday night after having voted against the urgency ordinance and extension in the past.
Kasdin posed a question about future eligible tenants of the mobile home park.
“My perspective has been (that) the need is universal for this type of housing,” he said.
It also created an annual age-verification process and required parks to identify their seniors-only status through signage, documentation and real estate listings, according to Lucy Graham, housing manager.
The ordinance brought before the council on Tuesday makes the regulations permanent and replaces the urgency ordinance, which was set to expire in February after an extension was granted in March.
The ordinance maintains current regulations and makes the citywide senior mobile home park overlay district permanent on the city’s zoning overlay districts map, Graham said.
The regulations also define a senior mobile home park as having 80% occupancy with tenants age 55 or older, according to the city staff report.
City staff are confident that the drafted ordinance will protect senior housing in the city and at University Mobile Home Park, according to Peter Imhof, planning and environmental review director.
The city has been involved in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court since March. The University Park Manufactured Housing Community LLC sued the city, alleging that the ordinance violated the Fair Housing Act.
Both parties filed a request to dismiss the lawsuit in September for U.S. District Court Judge Joel Richlin to deliver a decision on the motion, and the court expects a decision to be delivered by the end of the month.
Current University Mobile Home Park tenants spoke Tuesday night, pushing for the permanent ordinance.
“A lot of the people here are on a fixed income and can’t afford to go anywhere else,” park resident Yolanza Marquez.
She also claimed that the new owners evicted all of the tenants who were renting.
Councilwoman Jennifer Smith acknowledged Tuesday night that unlawful actions by property owners provide challenges to people with chronic health conditions or disabilities.
“It’s important for individuals to be aware that they may have rights,” she said. “Separate from what happens here, it’s just a scary thing when a notice lands on your door.”
