The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper Moffett trailer park slated for demolition Residents lose battle By Justin Berton The Moffett Trailer Village, a low-income housing park in Sunnyvale for more than 50 years, will be demolished to make way for 20 single-family homes after council members approved the project at the Feb. 2 meeting. Close to 50 residents--most of whom are elderly or disabled and live on a fixed income--have six months to vacate the trailer park. Though the project calls for developer Pinn Brothers Construction to provide relocation assistance, some residents fear there are too few options to find nearby affordable housing. "You have disabled folks, elderly folks here," said Bruce Stanton, an attorney representing the residents. "They run the gamut. It's not going to be the easiest thing in the world for them to relocate." Last month, a small group of residents retained Stanton to fight closure of the park, located in the 700 block of Borregas Avenue. Stanton argued that the aging trailer park should qualify as a "mobile home park" and, therefore, residents could receive the same legal protection as mobile home owners who face sudden relocation. Trailers are considered recreation vehicles towable on highways without a permit, whereas mobile homes are secured structures that are defined as "manufactured homes." When landowners relocate mobile home owners, Stanton said, they are bound by law to pay owners fair market value for the home. Trailer owners, however, are not given such protection. Stanton and his clients fear that without this legal determination, Pinn Brothers could slide on their word of faith to assist with relocation, and leave residents high and dry--without being legally accountable. One resident who lives near the park acknowledged his home value will increase once the new two-story homes are built. He asked the council to move ahead with the project, but to display compassion toward the relocation effort. "I would urge the council that my fellow residents are taken care of not by the letter of the law, but by the spirit of the law," he said. Late last year, representatives for Pinn Brothers Construction offered residents two months free rent as compensation. Most of the residents signed the agreement, a city report said. Rents at the park range from $300 to $400 per month. But in December, the Planning Commission found the offer to be "inadequate" and suggested more compensation for the residents before sending the issue to the City Council. Since then, Pinn Brothers has hired a relocation consultant to advise residents. Still, some residents say lists of possible housing provided by the consultants are outdated and insufficient. Rigo Pedraza, who earns $7 an hour and lives at the park with his wife, said he called every trailer park listed by the consultant. He came up empty handed when the young couple failed to meet one requirement several trailer parks request: that they be older than 65. "I don't know what to do next," he said. Others feared the age and poor quality of their trailers would be unacceptable to nearby trailer parks. John Brumley, a resident of the park who lives in a 1954 Columbia Park model trailer, said, "There is no place around here that will take that. It's in bad condition." Relocation consultant Karen Eddleman said finding housing for each of the residents within six months offered plenty of motivation for her and her staff. "My reputation is staked on this," she said. One resident who spoke at the meeting said she was able to find reasonable, nearby housing at the Aloha Trailer Park on El Camino Real. Josie Washington applauded the efforts of Eddleman and said the compensation received "was more than fair." To monitor the progress of the relocation, Vice Mayor Pat Vorreiter inserted an amendment to the motion that requires the consultants to report to council in four months. Though the City Council cannot take action against Pinn Bothers if it is revealed they are working in bad faith, Vorreiter said the intent of the report would be to offer residents a public forum to vent their frustrations. But the evaporation of low-income housing in return for homes that will cost more than $400,000 raised the ire of others. Dave Anderson, a resident at the park, said, "There is no place in this valley for indigent people to live." Instead of pushing out low-income spaces to make way for more pricey homes, Anderson argued, "Why don't they start here?" Leon Hayes, owner of the park for 22 years, said the lot suffered from irreparable sewer and plumbing damage. He called the park "junky," and said, "It just looks bad." "The park needs a lot of repairs," Hayes said. "The cost would be too great to do this." Hayes said he would be forced to raise rents to pay for the needed maintenance. After he heard of plans to demolish the park, resident Jim Trevino took a survey of his community. According to Trevino's results, 61 percent of the 48 residents at the park are elderly or disabled. Twenty-seven percent suffer from physical or mental disabilities that make them incapable of working. "They are disabled or they have emotional problems that make it hard for people to understand," Trevino said. "But they are harmless, and they are our community." "Mr. Hayes can do what he wants with this land," Trevino said. "But what are you going to do about us? If you want to displace us, that's fine. We just ask you to find us a place that's comparable." Before he cast his vote to allow the project, Mayor Manuel Valerio spoke directly to Eddleman and Hayes: "I think you know they are going through a great deal of changes, so I would implore you to do your best." As councilmembers registered their votes, one Moffett Trailer Village resident said to his peers with a sigh, "Pack your bags." [ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, February 10, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.