Rancho de Sonoma condo conversion agreement found “unacceptable”

In a surprise turnabout, residents of Rancho de Sonoma have refused to sign an agreement with park owner Preston Cook, of Rancho Sonoma Partners, LLC, after their attorney called the document, as presented, unacceptable.
The agreement reportedly would force them to support the park’s conversion to condominiums in exchange for a promise of rent control and various services. It further stipulates that the services and protections that residents would enjoy would be “expressly conditioned upon” their fulfilling several requirements, including waiving their objection that a city-required survey had not been representational, that “each and every one of its directors and officers, clearly and unconditionally” support the owner’s application to the city to convert the park to condominiums and “full and final City approval of the Application on or before June 5, 2008,” and “the conversion date occurring on or before June 30, 2009.”
Fueled by stories of condominium conversions throughout the state, and fearing the loss of rent control and – worse – the loss of their homes, the general atmosphere among park residents toward park owners is currently one of suspicion and distrust, according to park homeowners’ president Mike Warner, who said, “Most people are just scared to death.” When the residents’ attorney, David Grabell, Esq., found certain “ambiguities in the language” in the legal version of the document, he advised against signing. Housing advocate Sam Digiacomo said there was nothing in the legal document binding the owner, and should he default on any promise, such as the promise to provide the improvements the document lists, the residents, who are largely on the lower-income end of the scale, would have no recourse.
The larger issue, Warner pointed out, is that as parks go condo, their “coaches,” as the mobile homes are called, become worthless. “What new owner paying $250,000 for the land under the coach, is going to pay $50,000 for a 30-year-old coach?” And what low-income senior is going to try to find a mortgage to pay $250,000 to buy the land under his or her coach? The deal Cook offered seemed inevitable, and as good as they were going to get, said Warner. “Our electric system is 30 years old and in danger of failing. It’ll cost at least $800,000 to bring the electric up to date. He [Cook] can’t pass that cost off to the residents. So if the electric system fails, he doesn’t have to fix it. So that would close the park.” With park closure, and coaches worth nothing, many senior residents would be in trouble. “There are solutions to this,” said Warner, “but nobody’s doing anything and one way or other, rent control is going to be gone.”