Mobile Homes Sitting Over Mains to Be Moved

After more than a year of legal wrangling, attorneys for Calleguas Municipal Water District have struck a deal with owners of the Susana Woods Mobile Home park to move several homes sitting above a pair of high-pressure water mains.

Although the settlement is not yet final, the park’s owners have agreed to move by the end of July nine mobile homes that were placed illegally above an easement owned by the district.

“It’s a fair deal, and what’s more important is that everybody leaves having done the right thing,” said Calleguas General Manager Donald Kendall. “We’re happy with what’s been worked out.”

Kendall said the deal would require the park to pay for relocation of the mobile homes and compensate the displaced residents for temporary housing. The park also will drop its appeal of a court order that the homes be moved.

In return, the district will waive a previous court ruling that required the park to reimburse the district for legal fees incurred in trying to get the mobile homes relocated.

Attorneys for the mobile home park were unavailable for comment.

The homes were placed 18 years ago along a 35-foot strip of land south of Katherine Road--a water district easement upon which construction is forbidden for reasons of safety and access. The violation was discovered during routine survey work in 1996.

An earlier court decision gave the park until March 31 to move the homes, but attorneys for the park appealed the decision, delaying the relocation.

Calleguas had wanted the homes moved out of concern for the more than 20 residents who live above the water mains.

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Though water main breaks are rare, Kendall said he feared that with aging pipes a break could send a 45-foot geyser into the air, shooting out of the ground at a rate of about 32,000 gallons an hour.

The force of that flow, Kendall said, would almost certainly destroy anything that was over it and possibly kill someone.

“It’s a safety issue, pure and simple,” Kendall said. “Those people need to be moved.”

Kendall will ask the district board at its Wednesday meeting to approve the agreement with the park.