Note : This is a guest post by Barron Park resident Winter Dellenbach, who came to a BPA Board meeting on September 14th and presented her views to the Board about the possible redevelopment of the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park. The views expressed are her own and do not indicate that a position on this issue has been taken by the BPA Board or by the BPA itself. When (or if) the developer contacts the BPA Board or comes to a BPA Board meeting to discuss the proposal, we will publish a note with information they provide us.
WHAT IS GOING ON WITH BUENA VISTA MOBILE HOME PARK?
By Winter Dellenbach, La Para Ave.
Buena Vista Mobile Home Park (BV) may be sold and redeveloped, with the many residents forced out of their homes. Here is what is known about the proposal and the effect it would have on the residents.
How Most Long Term Mobile Home Parks Work
A resident usually owns their mobile home; sometimes it is rented. In either case, rent is paid monthly for the space the home occupies. In principle, when a resident moves, they take their mobile home with them to relocate in another park, but there are 2 problems with this. One is that their mobile home may no longer be mobile. It may have been in one place so long that it just isn’t road worthy. Second, if a mobile home is road worthy, there will almost certainly be no empty spaces available in other mobile home parks. Since mobile home parks are among the most affordable housing anywhere, vacancies are at a premium and almost impossible to come by. The BV property is currently home to 104 mobile homes, 12 studio apartments or cabins and a single-family residence. So, if BV closes, there will be a couple hundred people that will lose their housing with very limited options.
The Proposal
The Jisser family, which has owned Buena Vista since 1986 along with the entire NW corner at Los Robles at El Camino, is in talks with Prometheus Real Estate Development to sell them the BV property. Prometheus, a developer of many residential and commercial properties, wants the City to approve a zoning change, from the current RM-15, to RM-40 [40 multi-family units per acre] in order to build 187 one and two-bedroom upscale apartments.
Prometheus envisions the target market will be young tech workers employed by the area’s corporations. The units would be between 750 and 1,050 square feet, with at least 15% of the units offered at below-market rent under Palo Alto law.
According to the PA Weekly (see 9/14/12 article), “The redevelopment could rise from two stories closest to the homes behind the park to three or four stories closer to El Camino Real”. Four stories could exceed Palo Alto’s current height limit of 50 feet, and it may be that there is a 35 foot, not 50 foot height limit along El Camino. So by anyone’s perspective, this is a BIG and DENSE project.
Applicable City Regulations
The City recognizes that most BV residents are low or very low income. BV is considered an important resource for affordable housing in Palo Alto (our Comprehensive Plan and Housing Element mentions it by name), and is protected to a degree by the Palo Alto Mobile Home Park Conversion Ordinance, passed in 2001 by the City Council. Our Conversion Ordinance echos California’s Conversion law. Many towns have adopted such ordinances to protect affordable housing at mobile home parks.
The Conversion Ordinance requires heightened scrutiny in order to close a mobile home park, including a mandatory evaluation conducted to assess the demographic profile of residents (age, disability, income, etc.). comparable housing availability and prices are considered. A computation is made to determine relocation costs to be paid to residents. However, relocation payments will not go far in Palo Alto or anywhere in the Bay area. I anticipate that most residents will be forced out of the area entirely.
Uncertain Future for the Proposal and for the BV Residents
It remains to be seen if the property sale to Prometheus will go through, and if so, whether the City will grant a zoning change – it is at their discretion, so the city has a lot of leverage. No one knows what Prometheus will do if they do not get a zoning change approved. The City may require a better, more diverse mix of apartment sizes to accommodate a greater mix of potential residents – families with children for instance. While no formal application has been filed by Prometheus, it is thought that Prometheus may ask the City Council to give it preliminary feedback about the project sometime in November.
Whatever happens to Buena Vista Mobile Home Park, the outcome will affect the lives of many people; the people living there who work but are very low income – some call them the working poor. Losing them affects us – we would lose a lot of neighbors and economic diversity. I was struck by the man who came to the recent BPA Board meeting to express his daughter’s distress about her Gunn High friends who live at BV and are suddenly insecure in their housing and their schooling. It is a lot of stress for kids and teens. The children will have to leave their schools – Barron Park, Terman and Gunn, dashing their family’s dream of a fine education. And many old people who have been there a long time may really be in a bad situation.
BV residents are reaching out to the community. Some have contacted the City’s non-profit tenant group, others have talked to their children’s school teachers and school officials. Affordable housing advocates are starting to pay attention. All are deeply concerned, as are some BP neighbors. If you would like to be included on a list of supporters of BV residents, email me for more information.