Mobile home park issue will go on to mediation

By Jeff Kearns

Hoping to cool the simmering tensions between park owners and homeowners, the Los Gatos Town Council approved a plan to send both sides to mediation on compensating homeowners displaced by the coming closure and setting up a system to help renters relocate.

Councilmembers voted unanimously on Aug. 2 to accept a staff recommendation that would have Los Gatos Mobile Home Park owners and homeowners hash out an agreement on how tenants should be compensated when the park closes and what they should be compensated for.

As for renters, according to community development director Paul Curtis, state law and town ordinance both say the park owners don't have to give renters relocation benefits. However, councilmembers last week gave the nod for officials to start setting up a program that would help renters in the park find new housing in the town or in other nearby areas.

The issue of how much the mobile homes are worth has been at the center of the complex application to close the park for nearly two years, and it appears likely that the application still won't be ready to be accepted for several more months.

Mainly, the park owners and homeowners need to come to some agreement on what constitutes reasonable cost of relocation for owners. Park owner Doug McNelly said he would be willing to comply with a request for "reasonable expenses," but what that means is hard to say until something can be worked out.

Homeowner Bill Krause urged the council to accept the proposal and get the mediation under way. "It would be much better for both sides to try and find some common ground," he said.

Krause and other homeowners insist the value of the homes includes the value of the land they're sitting on, which pushes values higher in affluent areas like Los Gatos, but park owners say that's not the case at all.

"A mobile home is not real estate," Bonnie View Mobile Home Park owner Gerry Mirassou said in a letter to the council. "Unlike land, it depreciates in value over the years."

The council hearing will resume on Oct. 4.

Council sends apartment proposal back to Planning Commission

Space exploration is a worthy pursuit

Obituaries

Picture From the Past

Sports Briefs

Dammit Run returns for 26th year

Courtside Tennis Center sends teams to junior championships

Photo: Little League 'Black' all-stars

Photo: Little League 'Orange' all-stars

Photo: Local soccer star Marcia Wallis