During a packed meeting on Tuesday, the Goleta City Council approved an urgency ordinance in a 4-1 vote to keep University Mobile Home Park a senior-only park. 

The ordinance, which went into effect immediately, prohibits changing the mobile home  park to an all-ages community and adds a citywide senior mobile home park overlay to ensure that mobile home parks remain predominantly available to seniors.  

The ordinance will expire after 45 days unless extended by the City Council. 

The mobile home park at 520 Pine Ave. near Old Town Goleta is the only park in the city that restricts residency to people age 55 or older, and is one of five mobile home parks in Goleta, according to city staff. 

“The proposed ordinance is necessary to protect a unique source of unsubsidized affordable housing and for the immediate preservation of the public health, safety and welfare,” the staff report said. 

The mobile home park was sold to management company Harmony Communities Inc. in October, and residents received a mailed notice outlining new rules and regulations, including a major change: that the park would no longer be a seniors-only park.  

City Council members directed staff in December to prepare an urgency ordinance and a senior mobile home park overlay to address the change, which staff brought forth on Tuesday.

Tenants packed the meeting room, pleading with the City Council to approve the ordinance.

“This is my only affordable housing and I am well over 55,” resident Holly Boniface said. “I am a pilot, and when I get home I really need to sleep, so I was looking for a quiet place that was safe for me.”

Fred Sleiman, president of the University Mobile Home Park Association, said the park has always operated as senior housing. 

Harmony Communities Inc. has verbally threatened to file a lawsuit against the city following the ordinance’s adoption, according to Goleta City Attorney Isaac Rosen.

Nick Ubaldi, who represents the management company, claims that the city’s ordinance violates federal fair housing law as it reportedly discriminates against families with children, is not considered “urgent” under state law, and impacts affordable housing and fairness. 

Ubaldi commented on the ordinance in a letter submitted to the City Council, and he spoke during public comment on Tuesday.

“This ordinance would disrupt good faith talks (between management and residents) and trigger strong, expensive litigation that the city would likely lose,” Ubaldi said. “Why waste tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on a losing fight?”

He also claimed that the mobile home park has no age checks or policies, signage or ads, which he says is a “strict requirement” for senior-only housing exemption. 

“Converting them permanently to senior-only limits who can live there, reduces overall housing availability, and could harm families seeking affordable places to live. Residents who prefer seniors-only rules can still maintain that in their own spaces under current law. There is no need for city intervention that overrides private property rights and federal protections,” he said in the letter.

A majority of the council members supported the urgency ordinance, saying that protecting the seniors in the city is a priority.

“If the developers that came in from out of our area and acquired this park knew something about Goleta, they would know these things were priorities for this community — and we don’t do it by passing laws; we put money where our mouth is,” Councilman James Kyriaco said. 

Councilman Stuart Kasdin voted against the ordinance.  

“I don’t see why we would want to have a preference for a particular group because they don’t want other people who are different than them or other people who have different behaviors that they don’t like,” he said.

After council members approved the ordinance, a quiet celebration from meeting attendees ensued. Ann Anderson, president of the Golden State Manufactured Homeowners League, hugged supporters, repeating, “We did it.”

Harmony Communities Inc. had not filed a lawsuit against Goleta regarding the ordinance as of Wednesday, according to Santa Barbara County Superior Court records. 

Harmony Communities also tried to make an Orcutt seniors park, Del Cielo Mobile Estates, all-ages in 2024.

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors at the time adopted an Interim Urgency Ordinance stopping the conversion.

After the vote, the management company filed a lawsuit against the county. The case is ongoing and has a court trial set for July 20.