VENTURA : Council to Discuss Condemnation Issue

After months of closed-door deliberations, the Ventura City Council tonight will discuss publicly whether to begin condemnation proceedings on the Ventura Marina Mobile Home Park.

Park tenants, distressed by increasingly high rents, have lobbied the city for years to condemn the property and force the family that holds the lease on the park to sell it to the owners of the mobile homes.

Up until September, Wayne and Norma Peterson, the lease owners, were willing to participate in the condemnation. But in a Sept. 19 letter to the council, the Petersons said they had waited three years for a decision and could wait no longer. They will oppose any such proceedings in the future, they said.

Council members agreed to hear from both sides at tonight’s public hearing, but Richard Francis, an attorney who represents the tenants, said he does not hold out much hope for success. “I expect to go down in flames,” he said. “I think it’s probably too little too late at this point.”

In fact, Councilman Gregory L. Carson said he cannot get too enthusiastic over the idea.

“Why should the city condemn private property for a few residents’ benefit?” he said. “Does that mean we would get requests to condemn other mobile homes in town? Where does it stop?”