Now, the once-united group of neighbors has split, one side ready to leave the park, the other fighting to purchase the park and stay.

The two sides will face off at the June 14 Sunnyvale City Council meeting.

There, the council will approve or deny the conversion impact report prepared by current park owners Dubrovnik Properties and its partner Centex Homes, which wants to develop the property and help the residents move out.

The impact report includes the residents' concerns, Sunnyvale municipal code, relocation options and other pertinent information. If the council decides the report is complete and acceptable, Dubrovnik and Centex can move forward and begin work on project plans for the site.

Centex has been working with Dubrovnik since last fall and hopes to acquire the property and redevelop it. The conversion impact report is necessary because the park's vacancy rate tops 25 percent.

According to Sunnyvale municipal code, 25 percent or higher vacancy constitutes a change in use and requires a conversion impact report. Redevelopment can occur only after the impact report is approved.

"This is a challenging time for everyone, but we think we've complied with the law, and we hope the council will recognize that," Centex Project Manager Jeff Jacobs said.

"The approval is the end for us because then Centex can close the park," Oasis Mobile Manor Homeowners Association president Irene Dulfer said. "The beginning for the city is the end for us."

Many in the park are already trying to turn that ending into a new beginning.

One side wants to take the money Dubrovnik is offering--potentially more than three times the amount required by municipal code--to move from Oasis and allow the conversion.

"I think they're doing a lot more than they're expected to," 15-year resident Barbara Ehler said. "What more do these people want?"

Ehler cancelled a weeklong trout-fishing vacation to Oregon to stay in town for the June 14 meeting to speak against the homeowners trying to stall the process.

"It's ridiculous, they're trying to buy something that isn't for sale," she said. "I'm going to the meeting to fight like hell to get this thing passed."

The other side, which recently formed the Oasis Mobile Manor Homeowners Association and joined the Golden State Manufactured-Home Owners League, wants to stay. This group hopes to purchase the property from Dubrovnik with the state's help.

"In the park, you have a home. It's not an apartment where you have someone living above you and below you," Dulfer said. "You feel like a homeowner, and now they're going to destroy our quality of life."

These residents may find help for the purchase from the state in the form of low-interest loans.

According to Harry Adams, principal consultant for Assemblywoman Sally Lieber's office, the Mobile Park Resident Ownership Program run by the state offers low-income loans to resident associations to help them purchase their parks to avoid unwanted conversions.

While it has worked in the past, it is unlikely it will work for Oasis for a number of reasons.

"The bottom line here is that they still have to find more money. The low-interest loans that the state can provide won't cover the cost of a full park," Adams said.

There is also a procedural problem. Most associations that purchase their parks do so by being organized before any impending sales and by submitting notice to the state that they are interested in purchasing the property should it come up for sale.

The Oasis Mobile Manor Homeowners Association has existed for just over a month, and Dubrovnik has owned the property since July 2004. Since Dubrovnik is the current owner, the residents of Oasis would have to purchase it from Dubrovnik. Because Centex has a contract with Dubrovnik, they would only be able to do so if the developers terminated the contract.

Dulfer said ownership is their only viable option at this point, so they are pursuing it. She said the homeowners association will ask the council for the time to put a purchase plan together.

"We have pleaded with the city council members to--if they do nothing else--delay the approval of the conversion impact report,"

Dulfer, although explicitly calling for a delay, says the group is not "stalling," and criticized Jacobs at the June 3 meeting for going back on their verbal agreement to offer benefits. But many in the room at the meeting felt that Dulfer and the other residents who had joined the manufactured-home owners league were causing the problems.

"Their so-called organization is just making Centex out to be the bad-guys!" Ehler shouted during the meeting.

According to the report, Dubrovnik has offered to pay homeowners a minimum of $22,500 for their units, three times as much as the $7,500 judged by an appraiser in April. In addition, Dubrovnik is offering $2,765 in relocation benefits to cover rent, deposits and moving costs. There are additional benefits for moving out early, which could raise relocation benefits to more than $8,000.

For resident Maria Nichols, who was once afraid of getting less than $12,000 for her blue and white single-wide coach, the offer is more then generous.

"I'm sorry this park is closing, but since it started happening I thought; 'Look, I'll take the money, look to the future and move on,' " Nichols said.

Some residents of Oasis have already moved out, and although he did not have specifics, Jacobs said Dubrovnik has already paid close to six figures in compensation. Oasis resident David Sund said it only took him one afternoon to find a new park nearby that he could afford, thanks to the money from Dubrovnik. But because of the delay caused by the homeowners association, Dubrovnik and Centex had put any benefit offers on hold until after the council meeting.

If the council rejects the report and the project is called off, there is no reason for Dubrovnik to pay relocation benefits.

"We believe we acted in good faith, and now some of the residents are throwing new elements into the pot," Jacobs said. "Because of that, we have to be reserved now."

Jacobs said the benefits would only be delayed until after the June 14 council meeting. If the impact report is approved, and no legal challenges are made in the 30-day grace period, the benefits will resume.

"Nothing would make us happier than continuing to be able to move forward with the project," Jacobs said.

The issue goes before the city council on June 14 at 7 p.m. in city council chambers, 456 W. Olive Ave. For a full agenda, visit www.sunnyvale.ca.gov.