PALMDALE – The City Council on Wednesday will hold a public hearing in review of a proposed ordinance that will amend the city’s municipal code for “The Mobile Home Park Rental Review Board,” which will address conflict of interests for board members who determine mobile park rent increases.
The public hearing will address an amendment to the selection process to the Review Board, as well as its composition, which consists of five members to be appointed by the mayor and approved by council members.
According to the City Attorney’s staff report for the public hearing, the Mobile Home Rent Control Ordinance provides for control of rents for mobile home spaces to protect mobile home park residents “from excessive rents, while at the same time providing a just and reasonable return to owners of mobile home parks.”
The report states that council found that mobile home owners, having invested in the purchase of a mobile home to rent in the park, have “also made investments in maintaining and improving those homes, as well as landscaping and exterior improvements to the mobile homes and the rental spaces on which they are located.”
The council’s findings have also revealed that “the cost of moving a mobile home is substantial and the risk of damage in moving is significant,” according to the report. The bottom line is that “moving a mobile home is not a feasible option if rent becomes excessive” and that “immobility creates an imbalance in the bargaining relationship between park owners and mobile home park residents.”
The staff report points out the concern that “mobile homes are often owned by senior citizens, persons on fixed incomes, and persons of low-income, excessive rent increases fall upon these individuals with particular harshness.”
Therefore, the rent control ordinance requires regular review by the council to determine whether the mobile home space rent control is necessary to protect the the “public health, safety and welfare,” and whether the ordinance should be amended to provide “more effective regulation or to avoid unnecessary hardship.”
Thus, the proposed ordinance would change the composition of the review board “to do away with alternative members and specific board member categories,” which should keep qualified board members to increase the board’s efficiency.
In consideration of this, the ordinance would change the board members appointment to the review board, appointing board members by the mayor with the approval of the City Council. According to staff, this would allow board member appointments to be consistent with the appointment method of other city boards and commissions. It would also allow for an annual meeting of the Mobile Home Rental Review Board, which would “foster a more knowledgeable board and facilitate meaningful review of the effectiveness of the mobile home space rent control ordinance,” according to the staff report.
The provisions of the amendment would require that “no member of the board shall be a resident or owner of a mobile home park, or an employee of a park owner; and no member shall have a financial interest (as defined by state law) in any mobile home or mobile home park, or have a parent, child, spouse or sibling with any such financial interest.”
In addition, the duties and responsibilities of board members is to make appropriate recommendations to the City Council regarding the implementation and enforcement of the ordinance, while hearing Special Rent Increase applications and determine whether to approve or disapprove a rent increase.
The Palmdale City Council public hearing takes place 7 p.m. in the City Council Chamber, 38300 Sierra Highway, Suite ‘B’, Palmdale, CA 93550. For more information, call 661-267-5100 or visit the city online at http://www.cityofpalmdale.org.
