CC Minutes - 06/25/07 City Council Meeting

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increase. He believed his suggestion was a more fair distribution of the burden among the “four legs of the stool.” Chuck Carpenter , Portland, Executive Director of Manufacture Housing Communities of Oregon, stated that his organization represented 500 manufactured housing communities across the State of Oregon out of approximately 1,200. He noted that only five percent of those closed in the last five years. He wished to reiterate that residents of manufactured communities were informed of their rights and responsibilities before they sign a rental agreement. He believed that there were many reasons why people choose to live in manufactured home communities. He said rents were typically reasonable and did not reflect the land value. He thought the ordinance would make the discrepancy between the value of the land and the rents even larger. He felt the ordinance would make the landlord the victim. He averred that the landlord had done his or her part to provide a housing alternative and would, with the ordinance, be denied fair compensation for the land. He foresaw a steep increase in rents in order to pay the increase in exit costs, and a deterioration of properties. Zachary Vishanoff , a resident living on Patterson Street, related that his grandparents had lived in a “trailer park” in Santa Barbara, California. He said the ordinance would affect people like them in the Eugene community. He averred that the City should go to “great lengths” to mitigate the situation so that a Project Homeless Connect type event three years from now did not include “a bunch of people who used to live in these parks.” He believed that the owners of the parks were not the most vulnerable. He thought a lot of the parks were in scenic spots and were therefore more susceptible to redevelopment. He encouraged the City to conduct an audit of its low-income housing in order to determine what was out there and how quickly it was disappearing. Peter Ferris , P.O. Box 263, Bayview Mobile Home Park, Waldport, commented that the City Council had to be “Solomon” as it was a “daunting and difficult issue.” He said he had been a lobbyist for Oregon Manufactured Homeowners United over the past legislative session. He averred that they were trying to fashion a “win-win” situation. He believed the ordinance to be good public policy. He acknowledged the owners concerns about costs but pointed out that the homeowners “lose everything.” He said they lose “their homes, their affordable housing, their independence and their communities.” He asserted that people who lose their places end up being sent to nursing homes or dying or filing for bankruptcy. He urged the council to take a good look at the ordinance and take its time deliberating on it. Jerry A. Harden , 1400 Candlelight Drive, #224, Briarwood Mobile Home Park, proposed some changes to the ordinance including giving 100 percent coverage to all residents of mobile home parks regardless of zoning. He said people at the lowest income levels were limited to 50 percent coverage because of the location of the parks. He asked that a provision be added that would prohibit mobile home park owners from discriminating against single-wide or older homes. He thought park owners could “cherry pick revenue” by picking newer or larger homes. He also suggested that a park owner appeal provision be applied, such as stating provisions in the ordinance could be appealed to the City Council by park owners in the event unforeseen circumstances warranted exemption. He averred that many other cities were likely to use the Eugene ordinance as a model for their own ordinances. Mayor Piercy closed the public hearing. She noted that she had been tracking this issue carefully. She called for councilor questions and comments. Councilor Zelenka thanked Councilor Solomon for serving on the HPB and for helping to craft the compromise the ordinance represented. He said it was important to protect low income housing. MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 25, 2007 Page 8 Regular Meeting