The San Jose Mercury News tells MHProNews that this property is a 2-acre, 56-year-old manufactured home community that was sold in July 2014 for $5.9 million, according to the real estate website Zillow. Community owner Sunnyvale Park LLC, has expressed interest in closing the manufactured home community to develop a new mixed use project, but an application has not yet been filed.
The process will likely take a year as several steps are required to occur per city regulations that aim to protect affordable housing options for the city’s low-income residents. In December, the new community owners hosted two meetings for residents of the park regarding the proposed closure.
Relocation “will be very challenging, but thank goodness we have a very experienced relocation firm that is really interested in going above and beyond for the residents,” said Sunnyvale Housing Officer Suzanne Ise. “It was during the December meetings that they really built trust with the residents and made it clear their mission is to make sure the residents are taken care of.”
Most residents attended one or both of the meetings. The relocation specialist now has the task to meet individually with each household to gather information needed for a conversion impact report to be provided to the city. Future development plans cannot begin at the manufactured home park until the city council has signed off on a relocation plan.
The Sunnyvale City Council made some changes to the city’s manufactured home community conversion policy in 2012 after three years of studying the issue. The old policy was reviewed again after the closure of Flick’s Mobile Home Park in 2007.
The city ramped up relocation assistance, basing it on tenants’ actual relocation costs or requiring the applicant to buy the home for 100 percent of its “in-place value,” rather than the previous 85 percent. In addition, a longer notice period was added so that resident organizations could negotiate to purchase the park themselves.
There are 15 manufactured home communities within Sunnyvale with nearly 4,000 manufactured and mobile homes that make up 7 percent of the city’s total housing stock. Thirteen of these parks are in the residential manufactured home zoning district, which means that these communities cannot be converted to other uses without a General Plan amendment or rezoning. ##
(Photo Credit: Desert Sun)
Article submitted by Sandra Lane to – Daily Business News – MHProNews.
