Mobile Home Zoning Law Proposed

After battling mobile home park closures in Carson for years, park residents this week proposed a zoning ordinance to designate exclusive zones for mobile home parks that would make conversion to other uses extremely difficult.

At the Tuesday council meeting, representatives of the city’s chief mobile home residents organization, Homeowners Against Rent Decontrol, urged passage of the measure. The City Council referred it to the Planning Commission for review.

According to the proposed ordinance, all existing parks, which now are in residential and commercial zones, would become part of a new mobile home park zone.

“The regulations of this zoning district are designed to eliminate land speculation . . . to protect residents from displacement due to park closures, abandonment or conversion . . . (and) to protect and enhance the supply of affordable housing,” the ordinance states.

The proposed law would bar park owners from closing a park and converting to another use without getting a zoning change. In addition, any park owner seeking to close would have to give park residents six months to try to buy the park as a group.