Ordinance Number 3802'71
ORDINANCE NO. 380
ESTABLISHING A MOBILE HOME PARK REVIEW BOARD
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO,
CALIFORNIA, CREATING A MOBILE HOME PARK REVIEW
BOARD, AND ESTABLISHING THEIR POWERS AND
RESPONSIBILITIES (URGENCY)
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CALIFORNIA,
DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The City Council finds and determines that:
A. There is presently, within the City of San Juan
Capistrano and the surrounding areas, a shortage of spaces for
the location of mobile homes, resulting in a low vacancy rate
and rising space rents.
B. Mobile home owners have invested substantial sums
in their mobile homes and appurtenances.
C. Alternative site for the relocation of mobile
homes are difficult to find, and moving and installation of
mobile homes is expensive, with possibilities of damage to the
units.
This Council does, accordingly, find and declare that
it is necessary to protect the residents of mobile homes from
unreasonable space rent increases and/or assessments and
unreasonable rules and regulations, recognizing the need of
mobile home park owners to receive a "fair return" on their
investment and revenues sufficient to cover any increased costs
of repairs, maintenance, insurance, upkeep and additional amenities.
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A. "Board" means the Mobile Home Park Review Board
established by this Ordinance.
B. "Park" means a mobile home park which rents
spaces for mobile home dwelling units.
C. "Owner" means the owner, lessor, or designated
agent of a park.
D. "Resident" means any person entitled to occupy a
mobile home dwelling unit pursuant to ownership
thereof or a rental or lease arrangement with the
owner of the subject dwelling unit.
E. "Rent" means the consideration, including any
benefits or fees, in connection with the use and
occupancy of a mobile home space in a park, or the
transfer of a lease or rental agreement for park
space, services and amenities, or subletting, but
exclusive of any amounts paid for the use of the
mobile home dwelling unit.
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F. "Assessment" means the unit allocation of the cost
of installing, improving, repairing or maintaining
any capital improvements benefiting the resident.
SECTION 3. Applicability.
The provisions of this Ordinance shall not apply to any
park which contains fewer than 25 spaces.
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SECTION 4. Mobile Home Park Review Board.
A. Mobile Home Park Review Board Created: A Mobile
Home Park Review Board for the City is hereby created.
B. Membership: The Mobile Home Park Review Board
shall consist of a total of five (5) members. Two (2) shall be
resident electors who are mobile home owners; two (2) shall be
mobile home park owners, operators or managers, who are not
required to be resident electors; and one (1) shall be neither a
mobile home owner, mobile home park owner, operator nor manager,
who is not required to be a resident elector. A quorum shall
consist of four (4) members, and any action of the Board shall
require an affirmative vote of not less than three (3) members.
C. Duties: The Mobile..Home Park Review Board shall
undertake and have the following duties, responsibilities, and
functions together with the powers incidental thereto:
(1) To meet upon the filing of a petition by
residents or an owner requesting a public
hearing concerning space rent, pursuant to
Section 9 herein.
(2) To receive, investigate, hold hearings on
and pass upon the subject petition.
(3) To make recommendations to the City Council
relative to parks concerning adjustments to
space rents.
(4) To undertake such other duties as.may be
assigned by the City Council.
SECTION 5. Membership.
A. Appointment: Members of the Mobile Home Park
Review Board shall be appointed by the affirmative votes of not
less than three (3) members of the City Council, and shall be
resident electors of the City, except as expressly provided
herein.
B. Service: Each member of the Board shall serve
for a one (1) year term.
C. Removal: Any member of the Board may be removed
from such office, with or without cause, at any time, by the City
Council. No such removal shall be effective unless a motion to
that effect, made at a regular, adjourned regular, special or
adjourned special meeting, is carried by the affirmative votes of
not less than three (3) members of said Council.
D. Meetings: Except as expressly provided in this
Ordinance, the Board shall establish the time and place of its
regular meetings. All such meetings shall be conducted in
accordance with the provisions of the Ralph M. Brown Act. The
Board shall adopt rules for the transaction of its business and
shall keep a record of its proceedings, which shall be open for
inspection by any member of the public.
E. Absence of Members: Any member of the Board who
is absent, without sufficient cause, from three (3) successive
regular meetings of the Board shall be deemed to have vacated his
office.
An absence due to illness or an unavoidable absence
from the City shall be deemed an excused absence of sufficient
cause provided that notice thereof is given to the Secretary of
the Board by such member, on or before the day of any regular
meeting of the Board.
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F. Organization: The Board shall annually elect one
of its members as Chairman and one of its members as Vice -Chairman.
Said election shall take place at the first regular meeting in
May of each year.
G. Vacancies. Qualification of Successor: Whenever
a vacancy occurs on the Board, such vacancy shall be filled in
the manner set forth in Section 5(A) hereof. Where a vacancy
occurs leaving an unexpired term, the subsequent appointment
shall be made for the balance of such unexpired term.
Except for the removal of a Board member, as provided
in Section 5(C) hereof, or vacancy due to absence as provided in
Section 5(E) hereof, notwithstanding the expiration of the term
of a Board member, such member shall continue to serve as such,
until his successor is appointed and qualified.
This Section shall not apply to City employees or
elected officials, appointed to the Board by title of their
office.
H. Compensation: Each member of the Board shall be
entitled to such compensation as may be set by the City Council.
Such members shall be entitled to reimbursement for expenses
incurred in the performance of their official duties, if the same
is approved, in advance, by the City Council. The Board shall
not have any authority to expend or authorize the expenditure of
any public funds, except with the prior express approval of the
City Council.
Terms:
(1) Expiration of Terms. The term of a Board
office shall expire on April 30 of the
designated expiration year.
(2) Continuation in Office. Each member of the
Board holding such office as of the effective
date of this Ordinance, shall continue in
such office for the term to which he was
appointed; provided, that the provisions of
this Ordinance shall control and govern such
continuance in office.
J. Secretary: The City Manager shall designate the
Secretary of the Board. He shall provide appropriate clerical
assistance for the Board, and shall be responsible for the
maintenance of all its permanent records.
SECTION 6. Assessments, Rules and Regulations.
There shall be no imposition by the owner of any
assessments, nor the adoption of any rules or regulations relating
to personal actions, age limits, and the health, safety and
welfare of resixlents, until such assessments or rules or
regulations have been approved in writing by residents representing
more than fifty percent (508) of the spaces within the park,
excluding management space.
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SECTION 7. Space Rent Increases.
Upon receiving a petition concerning a space rent
increase pursuant to Section 9 herein, the Board shall make a
preliminary investigation to determine if the affect of the space
rent increase would exceed the cost of living increase for any
12 -month period. If the subject space rent increase does not
exceed the cost of living for any 12 -month period, the Board
shall reject the petition and shall not hold a public hearing
thereon. If the subject space rent increase exceeds the cost of
living for any 12 -month period, the Board shall schedule a public
hearing to determine the necessity and justification for the
subject space rent increase. Recommendations for any such
increase shall be based upon the subject park's gross space rent
receipts multiplied by the cost of living increase (Department of
Labor Cost of Living Index applicable for Orange County), divided
by the number of spaces. There shall, moreover, be no more than
one increase in space rents during any 12 -month period.
SECTION 8. Review and Hearing Process.
A. Upon the written petition of an owner, or of
residents representing more than fifty percent (50%) of the
spaces within a park, excluding management space, concerning
assessments, rules and regulations, or space rents, the Board
shall hold a public hearing in accordance with Section 2.3.15 of
Ordinance No. 293.
B. The Board shall make its decision no later than
ten (10) days after the conclusion of the hearing and forthwith
submit its findings and recommendations to the City Council.
C. The City Council may, based upon its findings,
require the owner to modify the assessments or rules and regulations,
or to reduce, increase, maintain, or modify the space rent.
D. Any space rent increases which have been collected
by an owner pursuant to an increase which is the subject of a
petition for hearing and which is later determined by the City
Council to have been excessive, shall be either returned to the
residents or credited to future space rents, provided that no
increases collected prior to the effective date of,this Ordinance
shall be returned.
SECTION 9. Separability.
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or
portion of this Ordinance is for any reason held invalid or
unconstitutional by any court of competent jurisdiction, such
portion shall be deemed a separate, distinct and an independent
provision and such decision shall not affect the validity of the
remaining portions thereof.
SECTION 10. Penalty.
Any person violating any of the provisions of this
Ordinance shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon
conviction thereof shall be punishable by a fine not to exceed
Five Hundred Dollars ($500) or by imprisonment for a period of
not more than six (6) months in the County jail, or by both such
fine and imprisonment.
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SECTION li. Effective Date.
This is an Urgency Ordinance to preserve the health,
safety and welfare of the City of San Juan Capistrano, and shall,
accordingly, become effective immediately. The facts constituting
the urgency are as follows: If the normal time sequences for the
introduction, adoption and referendum period are observed, an
owner will have an opportunity to defeat the intent and purpose
of this Ordinance to the detriment of the welfare of residents.
SECTION 12. Clerk's Certification.
The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of this
Ordinance and cause same to be posted in the duly designated
posting places within the City of San Juan Capistrano within
fifteen (15) days after its passage.
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 7th day of
March 1 1979 , by the following vote, to wit:
AYES: Councilmen Hausdorfer, Schwartze,
Buchheim and Mayor Friess
NOES: None
ABSENT: Councilman Thorpe
KENNETH E. FRIESS, MAYOR
ATTEST:
V
CITY CLE
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF ORANGE ) as.
CITY OF SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO )
I, MARY ANN HANOVER, City Clerk of the City of San Juan
Capistrano, California, DO HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing is a
true and correct copy of Ordinance No. 380 , adopted by the
City Council of the City of San Juan Capistrano, California, at a
regular meeting thereof held on the 7th day of March
1979 .
(SEAL)MARY
ANN ANN
OVER,
CITY
CLERK
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