Westminster : Planners Delay Decision on Mobile Home Parks

The Planning Commission will continue to require owners of mobile home parks to compensate residents if a park is converted to other uses, but the commission has not decided whether to seek a change in a key provision in the city’s ordinance that forces park owners to relocate tenants to a comparable park or buy their homes at fair market value.

The commissioners, who has been reviewing the ordinance for the City Council since last fall, said at their Monday meeting that they may eliminate a requirement that park owners who seek a conversion must obtain a conditional-use permit. Dropping the requirement would then be easier because it would not allow the City Council the power to veto such conversions.

The commission also put off a decision on whether to include a “sunset clause” that would keep the law in effect only for a specific limited time, according to Don Vestal, manager of the city’s Planning Department.

Park owners had sought to have the ordinance reviewed, claiming it should be modified because it makes conversions economically unfeasible and goes beyond state requirements that owners grant residents only “reasonable relocation costs.” Commissioners have noted that most other cities in Orange County have less-stringent requirements.

But mobile home park residents, many of whom are elderly, said changing the law will start a rush of conversions and leave them homeless.

The Planning Commission will continue its study until March 10. Once a recommendation is made, the City Council will take action on any necessary ordinance revisions.