While the city council is allowing the owners of Oasis to proceed with what could be the initial steps in converting the land into housing, the park's elderly residents left the council meeting with some hope.

On Feb. 15, the city council voted 6-1—with Councilman Otto Lee voting against it—to permit Centex Homes to begin exploring the possibility of converting the land for another use. The company wants to eventually apply for a general plan amendment to convert the land from mobile home use to low-medium or medium density residential homes.

But preceding any amendments or construction is a lengthy investigation, which includes the creation of a "conversion impact report," a document that explores and outlines the impact of converting the park into something other than a mobile home park.

The issue was brought forward by Centex Homes, which is working with the park's owner Dubrovnik Properties to develop a plan to convert the land to other uses. A low-medium density use would allow 14 housing units for each acre in the 4.77-acre park, while a medium density use would allow up to 24.

The primary concern for the almost 30 Oasis residents at the meeting was where they will go if Oasis closes. Many of them pay around $500 in rent to live in the park, whether they own their coach and rent the land underneath it or rent both.

Each council member pointed out that the decision to green-light the study was a difficult one because it does open the park up to conversion. Conversion could potentially dislocate the residents and force them to move out of the area to places where housing is affordable on their income.

In the past, Oasis residents predicted a "slam dunk," for Centex, one that would put them out of their homes with meager compensation, many of them came away from the council meeting feeling comfortable with the decision, although many are still uncertain about the future.

"I'm keeping my fingers crossed," resident Irene Dulfer said. "I'm glad to see that they seem to be really concerned about the people here, but I'm still kind of anxious."

Park resident Maria Nicholas—who sat right in front of the council and spoke during the meeting—said it makes sense to do a study of the park, and that she was pleased because the council seemed genuinely concerned with the decision they had to make.

Councilwoman Melinda Hamilton said she supported the study because it could result in a better situation for the residents. There was talk of possibly giving Oasis residents first bid on new senior housing in Sunnyvale, or even of creating low-income housing on the Oasis property for them in addition to for-sale homes.

"If we don't do this study, we won't know what all of our alternatives are," Hamilton said before voting in favor of it.

Centex Project Manager Jeff Jacobs said that Centex would most likely build multi-story, detached homes for single families if the council decides to allow a conversion, but it's still too early to speculate on a final design plan. If the city would allow them to build low-income housing for the seniors in lieu of the below-market-rate housing that must accompany new developments, that could be a solution that would work for all parties.

Lee, who voted against the item, said he was concerned that the residents would be displaced and not paid enough for their homes to even put a down payment on the types of homes being put in. He was also bothered that a conversion would destroy 67-low income houses to put it what could be less than ten below-market-rate homes. Even then, the below-market-rate is still more than $200,000.

Councilman Fred Fowler said he was voting for the study because there were a number of issues in the park that needed to be explored. Among those are deteriorating conditions—attributed by the residents to neglect by Dubrovnik Properties, who bought the land in July 2004—and an inadequate electrical supply installed when the park was built.

"It makes us look like a slum, and in a clean, well-managed city like Sunnyvale, that's offensive," Nicholas said.

Oasis residents have frequently complained about the deteriorating park—weeds are growing tall, rust is gathering on old homes, and the pool is filled with dirt—and the council decided to direct staff to explore those complaints as part of the approval of the study.

Dulfer said she believes the neglect is intentional, designed to keep people from moving in to the park to help the conversion application. As part of the city's conversion ordinance, if more than 25 percent of the homes in a park are vacant, a conversion impact report must be done. Dulfer said as people have moved out, the owners have refused to allow new tenants to move in.

"There are some units in the park that would rent in a heartbeat, but the owners are just not letting them be rented," Dulfer said.

Several times during the meeting, council members commented that they would have liked the owners of the park present at the meeting to address the concerns about the park. In fact, Dubrovnik representatives were present at the meeting, but declined to speak.

Jacobs said that even with the council's approval of the study, it might be summer before they are back in the chambers to ask for a general plan amendment. He said a typical project—without factors like mass relocations—can take around two months, and with this project, they could be looking at three or four months total.