MOORPARK : Park Owner Wants Rent Law Changed

The owner of the Villa del Arroyo mobile home park in Moorpark has responded to a new city rent control ordinance with a petition drive seeking to overturn the local law through a public referendum.

Dale Williams has hired the Wessell Co. of Burbank to collect the signatures of about 1,250 registered voters needed by Nov. 6 to force a public vote. The council adopted the rent control ordinance earlier this month.

At issue is whether the city should be able to regulate rents charged by Williams when mobile homes are sold. The ordinance would cap any rent increase at 5% or the Consumer Price Index--whichever is less--over any 12-month period and would allow just two such increases every five years.

The city already regulates annual rent increases on units that are not sold, Mayor Paul Lawrason said.

Company representatives who arrived outside the city’s lone supermarket Saturday were angrily confronted by mobile home park residents and city officials, who successfully had the petitioners evicted from the parking lot. They later returned and have been collecting signatures in the city since.

If enough voters sign the petition by the deadline, the ordinance would be suspended until a special election was held and the matter would be decided by a simple majority, said Moorpark City Clerk Lillian Hare.

Moorpark Councilman Scott Montgomery questioned the validity of a referendum movement that is entirely orchestrated by outside concerns.

“I think it’s a sham,” Montgomery said. “It’s entirely within the rights of Moorpark voters to question the actions of the council. But that isn’t the case here.”

City officials also said people who signed the petition may not have been given enough information.

“What disturbs me was the approach that they took, they didn’t give them the facts,” said Lawrason. “All you have to do today is just point your finger at local government and people say, ‘Sure, I’ll sign that.’ ”