“Palace coup” at Rancho de Sonoma Warner, impeached, vows counter-coup

It’s come to this. Now that the City’s Mobile Home Ordinance is drafted, and is coming up for a final vote before the Sonoma City Council, and after intense efforts at mediation by an ad hoc committee, and with the Rancho de Sonoma homeowners’ association president, Mike Warner, continuing to defy Preston Cooke’s proposals, a group of residents is trying to throw him and the board out of office.
“He refused to negotiate with [park owner] Preston Cooke,” said resident Earle Ahern, “and now Preston Cooke is refusing to negotiate with Mike Warner.  In effect, they don’t recognize each other.”  Ahern said a group of residents, who wish to get on with their lives and accept Cooke’s offer, gathered on Monday, June 17 to terminate the board and proceed to elect a new one. This past Monday, they sent out 74 ballots for their election (neither Mr. Warner’s name, nor any of the current board members, is on the ballot) and will be tabulating the results on Wednesday, after this edition goes to press. “Our intent is: a) start a separate and different homeowners’ association that will negotiate; or b) dissolve the homeowners association by a vote of the residents.”
For his part, Warner said their move is “illegal.” “They had 18 people out of 78 supporting them. Now they’re talking about doing an election and sending out stuff and it’s as if you, me and 10 other people are going to take over the city council.”  Warner maintains that despite their efforts, he remains the duly elected president of the association.  “We’re going to have an election and get a breakdown on how many people back us and how many back the owners’ group. We’re going to wait until the ordinance is passed. Then we’ll proceed.”
Ahern’s group likes Cooke’s deal.  “He wants to make this park the best park in Sonoma,” said Ahern. “He expects this to be a long, ongoing process and he’s setting it up so that even if he’s gone, over the next 20-30 years, the park will be improved and modernized, and be a desirable place to live, and still relatively low cost.” Low cost is more than they would currently sell for, but far less than the typical Sonoma dwelling. “If the new units sell for $350,000, in Sonoma that’s a bargain,” he said.
Warner’s issue is his equity. “The only money I have to leave my daughter is [the value of the coach]. If I died the day after the park is converted, my daughter would have to try to sell the place.”  However, the “coach,” which cost him $30,000, and which is now paid off, would be worthless because no one would buy an expensive lot with a used mobile home on it. Multiply his equity loss by others in the park, and he estimates, “He’ll [Cooke] make $20 million and we’ll lose $3 million.
The third and over-arching position, expressed again and again in council meetings is that of Sam DiGiacomo, which is, he says, the “principle of the thing: Rent control. “We just have to continue to protect our affordable housing and our senior citizens.”
Cooke has maintained all along his position is fair. “I’ve gone over the top in offering a very fair deal,” he said. “My attorney said what I am doing should be an example of how to convert parks to condominiums.”
The council has prepared its ordinance and heard the first reading. “Seemingly, we’ve done our job,” said council member August Sebastiani, “the city has an ordinance that we are proud of.”
The council will vote on the ordinance at its next meeting, July 2.