The Sunnyvale Sun

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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer

Mobile demonstrators: Residents of Flick's Mobile Home Park, including Luis Trujegue (left), protest the possible closure of their park. Trujegue, a single father of two, says apartment rentals in the area are too expensive.

Mobile home life in Sunnyvale not stable

By Stephen Baxter

For Sunnyvale City Councilman Chris Moylan, the issue of whether to develop some of the city's mobile home parks into houses began when an older woman in a wheelchair grabbed his hand at the holiday tree-lighting ceremony on Murphy Avenue in December.

"Don't close our mobile home park!" she said.

The woman asked Moylan to keep the residents in mind when the council considered redevelopment decisions. Startled, Moylan said he didn't know much about it, but that he would do what he could.

As word of Flick's likely closure swirled in early January, residents of Blue Bonnet Mobile Home Park at 617 E. Evelyn Ave. in Sunnyvale said they feared it also will close. If it does, it will be the third in the city to shut down in 12 months.

Al Stuetzle, an 88-year-old resident of a mobile home park in Mountain View, recently went to the Blue Bonnet park to inquire about vacancies, and found the office empty. He called the number on the wall, and was told by park owner Sue Chang, "Go away, this park is closing, come back in two years." Then she hung up.

Stuetzle filed a complaint Jan. 9 with the state's Department of Fair Employment and Housing about the matter, because it may be illegal to be denied an application unless the park is closing.

When a reporter called Chang to ask about the park's future, she hung up. Other calls were not returned.

Residents interviewed at Blue Bonnet said they believed it would close in the next two years, and one man said he planned to ask the city for a conversion report. The report would compel the owner to draft a plan to help residents find new homes if the park closes. It is also designed to stop a "stealth closure," where the owner lets lots stay vacant so it can claim 25 percent of the park is vacant and ease its redevelopment.

The land at Blue Bonnet, close to highways 85 and 101, could be worth millions.

At least three of Blue Bonnet's 55 lots are vacant, and two of those do not have mobile homes on their pads. Longtime mobile home residents say bare pads indicate the owner is not interested in continuing the business.

Margaret Nanda, a Los Gatos lawyer who has dealt with mobile home law in the South Bay for decades, said smaller, older parks such as Blue Bonnet are more vulnerable to closure than large ones because many face high costs to update their electrical and plumbing systems.

Each Blue Bonnet resident will pay $34.88 per month starting in February for sewer and garbage, which was formeryl included in rent.

At Blue Bonnet, so many prospective residents drive through the park looking for vacancies that neighbors joke they ought to charge a toll. The park office is usually empty, they said, as it was on a visit Jan. 11.

A neighbor, Robert Ross, is a Department of Defense retiree.

"She has the vacancies; why wouldn't she buy some mobile homes and make money?" he asked.

Like Flick's, Blue Bonnet's land is not zoned for a mobile home park, which also would facilitate its conversion.

Ross, who pays $650 a month in rent, looked at the luxury townhomes being built across the street as an indication of change for the neighborhood. Built by Toll Brothers, they start at $689,975.

On Jan. 9, a Toll Brothers representative said two of 47 units were unsold.

City's hands are tied on
the mobile park closure

Residents of Flick's Mobile Home Park should expect to pack their bags, leaders and officials said, as the city council may be unable to assist them.

Flick's residents, at 637 E. Taylor Ave. in Sunnyvale, were given notices in November that the park would close. It is expected to make way for 32 to 36 houses built by Palo Alto-based Clarum Homes.

In February and March, city leaders will decide whether Clarum has fulfilled requirements to help residents find new homes and to give them money for their mobile homes.

The city council is not expected to weigh whether Flick's can be sold to build houses, and city officials have said that it is a business decision beyond its control. The city just decides land use.

Unlike Sunnyvale's Oasis Mobile Home Park that closed in 2005, Flick's land is not zoned for a mobile home park. Some council members, including Mayor Otto Lee, said the council ought to follow the city's intentions to have homes at Flick's. Lee was the only council member to vote against Oasis' closure.

Margaret Nanda, a lawyer for Clarum Homes, said last week the company has worked closely with Catholic Charities to find new housing for the neighbors, and it would give the owners 100 percent of the homes' appraised value. The law requires it give up to 75 percent.

Owners of the oldest homes would receive at least $30,500 in relocation and appraisal money, with packages of up to $98,000 for the largest and newest mobile homes, she said.

Seniors, families and low-income residents live at Flick's, which is considered affordable housing in Sunnyvale.

In the meantime, residents of Flick's should expect to leave, said Joanne Rivera, a Catholic Charities worker helping relocate residents there.

Some people are still upset about losing their homes, including Don Galvan, a 40-year-old sales employee of Fry's Electronics Inc. He has lived at Flick's for six years, and said he didn't know where he would go.

"Hopefully they'll let us stay a little bit longer," he said.