LAGUNA BEACH : Mobile Home Residents Rage at Council Over Relocation

Furious that city leaders appear ready to shrink a benefits package that helps Treasure Island Mobile Home Park residents relocate when the park closes, trailer owners assailed the City Council during a bitter two-hour public hearing Tuesday night.

Easily the angriest verbal assault the new council has endured since it was formed in December, one speaker even hinted that council members should beware of retaliation.

“I’m glad I’m not in your shoes; I’d be afraid to go to bed at night,” the man said, prompting applause in the packed Council Chambers.

At issue is a relocation ordinance approved in February, 1994, by the previous City Council. It forces landowners to pay residents an average of $130,000 when they have to move. About 80 residents are eligible for the benefits.

The landowners--a partnership headed by Merrill Lynch Hubbard and Costa Mesa businessman Richard Hall--sued the city, and a Superior Court judge ruled in October that the city could demand such benefits, but only for the park’s permanent residents. The landowners appealed the decision.

The relocation benefit package granted residents would cost about $23 million. When the judge limited the benefit to full-time residents, it reduced the cost to about $13.5 million.

With the appeal pending and the council proposing a change in its ordinance, the park’s owners are now offering a $3 million-plus settlement. The $3 million would be divided among the coach owners who live at the park full time, with an additional year’s free rent for all coach owners, whether they live there full time or part time.

Treasure Island residents said if the council undercuts last October’s legal victory, they will sue the city.

An attorney for the landowners said this week the settlement offer deadline would be extended from April 4 to April 18.