Residents fight conversion of mobile home park

<p>Roger McConnell has owned his manufactured home for the past decade, but not the 50-foot by 70-foot piece of dirt it sits on. </p><p>That's just the way the 72-year-old retired carpenter likes it. </p><p>So this afternoon McConnell and about 100 of his neighbors in the Country Mobile Home Park will descend on the Santa Rosa Planning Commission and urge them to block the latest effort by their landlord to begin selling the lots instead of renting them.</p><p>“There's a few things in this life that's still worth fighting for at this age — that lady in there,” said McConnell, gesturing toward his wife Nancy in the next room, “and this home.”</p><p>Four years after the owner of the park first floated the idea of converting it to “airspace condominiums,” the residents of the 178-unit community continue their nearly unanimous opposition to the plan. A survey of residents, mostly low-income seniors, found that 138 households, or 77 percent, were against conversion, while only nine, or 5 percent, were for it. </p><p>The seniors worry they won't be able to afford to buy their spaces, that rents will increase, and the value of their manufactured homes will be wiped out while the landlord reaps a multimillion-dollar windfall. </p><p>“The only ones that ever make any money off these are the landowners and the attorneys that make the conversions,” said McConnell, who has emerged as one of the leaders against the effort. </p><p>McConnell paid $125,000 for his 1,500-square-foot home 10 years ago, and three years ago a similar unit sold for $245,000, he said. But if the conversion is allowed to go forward, he fears that equity will be decimated, dropping to perhaps $50,000.</p><p>The city is concerned, as well. “The City of Santa Rosa is taking the position that this is not a bona fide conversion,” said Erin Morris, senior planner. </p><p>The strong opposition of residents combined with the owners' lack of effort to win their support convinced city staff that the conversion appears to be an effort to sidestep the city's rent control ordinance. </p><p>The landowner denies this, arguing the plan is not a “sham conversion,” but rather one that aims to give residents the choice to own their lots. Those that don't want to buy can continue to rent, protected by all state rent control laws, according to documentation provided by the owners, a Bay Area investment group. </p><p>It isn't the first time the city has thrown a roadblock in front of the plan. In 2007, several months after the plan was submitted, the city passed an ordinance aimed at protecting residents in all 14 mobile home parks from illegal conversions. But a similar law passed by Sonoma County was shot down by the courts in 2009, forcing the city to backtrack. </p><p>The residents' attorney, Will Constantine, said state law still protects residents by allowing local jurisdictions to consider the will of the residents when reviewing conversions. The landowner disagrees, but Constantine, who helped write the law, said bona fide conversions are “supposed to be ones that are supported by and for the benefit of the residents,” he said. </p><p>When they are being put forward by landlords trying to increase their investment returns, they violate state law and can be stopped at the local level, he said. </p><p>McConnell said buses and carpools will be taking groups of residents to the 4 p.m. hearing at City Hall.</p>