LAGUNA BEACH : Mobile Home Park Residents Speak Out

More than 150 mobile home residents packed the council chambers this week to lobby for ordinances to protect their parks from high rent increases and development.

The issue is part of the city’s yearlong effort to merge the South Laguna Specific Plan into Laguna Beach’s existing master plan for land use. The City Council will act on the recommended changes at a Dec. 12 meeting.

“I feel we’ve heard every issue,” said Planning Commission Chairman Norm Grossman. “Everyone has had a chance to give their opinions.”

The proposed change in zoning for Treasure Island and Laguna Terrace, the two mobile home parks in South Laguna, would prevent development of condominiums or other non-mobile home uses without another zoning change.

Thurston Trailer Park, the other mobile home park in Laguna Beach, will be included in the ordinances later, Grossman said.

Treasure Island Mobile Home Park, a 27-acre parcel overlooking the ocean in South Laguna, is currently zoned for various non-mobile home uses, including time shares. The zoning in the other two parks would also allow the land to be developed.

In response to pleas from trailer park residents, the Planning Commission previously voted to recommend a six-month moratorium on rent increases and a one-year moratorium on development.

“It isn’t just a home we might be losing, it’s a family,” said Oliver Springer, a retired fireman and one of many residents who fear being forced out of their homes so that the park can be developed. “We’re not rich. . . . People are living in fear.”

Treasure Island residents have been meeting for more than a year with Treasure Island Associates, which purchased the property in August for $43 million, an amount residents say they were willing to pay to purchase the property.