VENTURA : Trailer Park, City Reach Rent Accord

The city has reached an agreement with the owners of the Ventura Marina Mobile Home Park, ending a lengthy court battle over the park’s right to raise rents above the limits imposed by the city’s mobile home rent control ordinance.

The Ventura City Council voted 5 to 2 on Monday to uphold an agreement reached last week between the city and the Peterson Family Trust, which operates the park.

“We have preserved the ordinance, and that was the ultimate goal,” said Mayor Richard Francis, who voted with the majority. “Had we pursued the issue in court I think it’s very likely we would have lost.”

The 1981 ordinance had restricted rent increases to the rise in housing maintenance costs plus a portion of the annual increase in the consumer price index. But under the agreement, the city will allow the mobile home park’s owners to raise rents by $36 over the next three years, starting in 1991, and to increase rents by up to $35 each time a new family moves in.

In exchange, the Petersons have agreed to drop two lawsuits filed last year challenging the city’s rent control ordinance. They also will waive damages for any injuries suffered as a result of the rent control ordinance.

City Atty. Peter D. Bulens said the city decided to seek a negotiated settlement with Ventura Marina after a recent string of court decisions nullified mobile home rent control ordinances in California and elsewhere in the United States.

Council members John McWherter and Jim Monahan opposed the agreement. “We’re caving into pressures from attorneys,” Monahan said. “Let our ordinance have its day in court.”