Mobile Home Park Owners File Lawsuit Over Tenant Moving, Relocation Costs

A property owner filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Thursday against Palo Alto over a city order to pay residents $8 million to move out of a mobile home park that was approved for closure earlier this year.

Toufic “Tim” Jisser, 71, and his family, who has owned the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park for nearly 30 years, applied to close down the property in 2012 and the City Council approved the request in May. The park was the only one of its kind in Palo Alto.

Residents had appealed to stop the closure and argued for higher compensation to alleviate the costs of relocation in the two-and-a-half years before the council’s decision.

Most of the residents at the 5-acre park with 117 units located at 3980 El Camino Real are Hispanic and low-income families.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in San Jose by the Sacramento-based Pacific Legal Foundation alleges the city violated the family’s rights under the Fifth Amendment and 14th Amendment.

The city’s approval came with an “unconstitutional condition” for the family to pay the park’s tenants $8 million to move out of the property and find another home in the city’s competitive housing market, the suit alleges.

The $8 million price tag was based on recent appraisals that may increase when the park actually closes and has prevented the family from moving forward with their plans, according to the suit.

Jisser would like to retire and pass the land to his son Joe to redevelop the property, a right they have under the state’s Mobilehome Residency Law, according to the suit.

“It’s not fair for the city to force us to pay our tenants millions of dollars as the price of my parents’ retirement,” Joe Jisser said.

Under the city’s Mobile Home Park Conversion Ordinance, the city and park owner had to determine the impacts of closing the property and assistance for residents to move out.

State law only allows the City Council to approve an application to close a mobile home park, but the council can hear any appeal to the proposed relocation and compensation measures.

A hearing on the Jissers’ application took place in 2014 and an officer determined an update was needed on the mobile home park’s appraisal, which had been conducted the year before by a real estate firm he hired.

The Buena Vista Mobile Home Park Residents Association argued that the appraised value was not enough.

The family is seeking declaratory and injunctive relief from the condition placed by the city and payment of legal fees.

“No one should be forced to carry on a business that they want to close,” foundation attorney Larry Salzman said.

“The city is treating the Jissers as an ATM to solve a problem they didn’t cause - the lack of affordable housing in Palo Alto. That’s not just wrong, it’s unconstitutional,” Salzman said.

“We are confident that the city followed both state law and the process that is set out in our own municipal ordinance related to the closing of the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park. There is no merit to these claims,” City Attorney Molly Stump said in a statement.

Earlier this year, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors set aside $14.5 million and Palo Alto allocated $8 million to prevent the park’s closure.

Supervisor Joe Simitian has proposed a plan to help keep the park open through a partnership with Irvine-based nonprofit Caritas Corporation, which operates 20 mobile home parks statewide and is willing to take over Buena Vista Mobile Home Park with Toufic Jisser’s approval.

--Bay City News Service