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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-03-1985 MHRRB MinutesG At city of san tuis-oaspo HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION 'mom Post Office Box 8100 • San Luis Obispo, CA 93403-8100 • 549-7150 M I N U T E S MOBILE HOME RENT REVIEW BOARD October 3, 1985 CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order by Acting Chairperson Gaye Benson at 9:10 a.m. Mrs. Benson introduced Board Members Naoma Wright and Denny Wheeler. Chair- person Tom Swem and Board Member Patricia Barlow were absent. STAFF PRESENT: Anne Russell, Steve Henderson and Gwen Guyre-Powell. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: ACTION: Denny Wheeler moved, Naoma Wright seconded to approve the minutes of the September 18, 1985 meeting wi-th.the following change: Page 4, Item 13, last sentence; insert a comma between the words "further" and -"allows". (APPROVED) STAFF PRESENTATION: Steve Henderson presented a packet to the Board including a "Decision and Order" statement, (October 3, 1985), his memorandum -of August .20,.1985 entitled, "Ad- justments to the Rent Stabilization Ordinance" and.a copy of correspondence to Chairperson Tom Swem from Chuck Hughes of the Western Mobilehome Association dated September 26, 1985, ;i.nc•luding an article regarding rent control. Regarding Agenda item, "Consideration of Ordinance Adjustments", and presentation by Chuck Hughes, it was decided that due to limited time as well as the absence of other Board Members, Mr. Hughes would address the Board at a later date. Chairperson Benson acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Wheeler's "Minority Report" dated September 30, 1985 as mentioned in the September 18, 1985 meeting. DECISION AND ORDER: Anne Russell noted as a point of clarification that the action to deny the in- crease was taken at the September 18, 1985 meeting. Mobile Home Rent Review Board October 3, 1985 Page 2 FINDINGS: After considerable discussion, Staff was directed to return to past minutes to check figures, etc., and readdress the Findings at the next meeting. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE RENT STABILIZATION ORDINANCE: (August 20, 1985) Item 5: "Application for Rent Increases" Form. City of San Luis Obispo Mobile Home Rent Review Board. Regarding the application form, Chairperson Benson observed that it does not ask for the amount of increase requested or indicate the amount of the current rent. Mr. Wheeler suggested that "effective date of increase" on line 6 be changed to "requested date of increase". Mrs. Benson suggested that "requested date of increase" become number 7 and numbers 7 and 8 be changed accordingly. Mr. Wheeler suggested that the form should state "current rent schedule" and "re- quested rent schedule". Staff was directed to revise the application form and present a finalized version at the next meeting. Item 6: Regarding the length of lease, Anne Russell noted as a point of clarifi- cation that "length of lease" in this context refers to length of lease in order to be excluded from mobile home rent control. Chairperson Benson reviewed the Ordin- ance (Section 5.44030E) for the benefit of the audience. Mrs. Benson reflected that one of the issues that has been raised before the Board is whether it ought to consider something longer than a month-to-month tenancy or if it is adequate in terms of stability, both for the landowners and for the tenants or whether it might want to recommend some change in the Ordinance to the City Council on that particular element of the Ordinance. Item 7: The "Safe Harbor" concept will be discussed in a separate meeting in which this concept would be a specific Agenda Item. The public would be invited to give testimony. Leigh Willard, President of the Chumash Mobile Home Owners Association addressed the Board regarding the differences in leasing a mobile home space as opposed to leasing a residence. He feels that a lease period of less than five years would not be acceptable. Attorney for the applicant, Jim Buttery noted that the Rancho San Luis Mobile Home Park has a ten year lease, the Laguna Lake Mobile Home Park has a five year lease, Mobile Home Rent Review Board October 3, 1985 Page 3 while the Willow Creek Mobile Home Park has a "roll-over" provision in their lease. In addressing the question of how long a lease can be in order to exempt the space from rent control, guidelines recently passed by the State Legislature (the Green Bill), state that if you have a lease for one year or longer, you are exempt from rent control. Based on the present structure of the Ordinance, and with the lang- uage of the Green Bill, Mr. Buttery feels that the only consideration should be changing from month-to-month to, at the most, a one year lease. NOTE: Staff was directed to obtain a copy of the Green Bill. Mr. Wheeler directed a question to Mr. Willard regarding the advantages or disad- vantages of having a long term lease. Mr. Willard stated that he would like to see all of the mobile home parks follow the example set by the Laguna Lake Mobile Home Park as he feels their lease is ac- ceptable. Mr. Wheeler directed the same question to Mr. Buttery. Mr. Buttery feels that obtaining long term leases is the consensus opinion of all of the park owners in this community who are not on leases at this time. He ment- ioned difficulties in the "safe harbor" concept and that several park owners in this community do not feel they can afford to enter in to a ten year lease i.f they are bound to starting out at the position they are now in; that somewhere there has to be an adjustment before they get into the ten year relationship. He feels that the homeowners should be willing to pay this adjustment in order to obtain the security. Mr. Buttery also mentioned the reluctance of park owners to spend large amounts of money for park maintenance unless there is some security they will re- cover their expenditures. The Board directed that the Agenda for the next meeting include Mr. Hughes present- ation. (Mr. Hughes represents the Westerm Mobilehome Association and will address the Board regarding some of the issues relating to leases, negotiations, mediation, etc., and discussing ways of helping to put together a system which brings together the mutual interests of the owners and the tenants in trying to provide means of resolving those.) Also included in the Agenda will be the completion of applications. DATE OF NEXT MEETING: The date of the next meeting will be announced by public notice. NOTE: Mrs. Benson and Mr. Wheeler will meet with Mr. Henderson in the near future in order to revise the application form. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 10:25 a.m. Respectfully submitted, � 2 Loit Barton, Recording Secretary Mobile Home Rent Review Board