A development sign is planted outside the Blue Bonnet Mobile Home Park in Sunnyvale, Calif., July 1, 2018. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
Written by Khalida Sarwari | Source
The Mercury News | July 17 2018, 4:04 AM
A handful of dwellers left in Sunnyvale’s Blue Bonnet Mobile Home Park tonight may urge the City Council to reject a townhouse development that would displace them.
William Constantine, a Santa Cruz-based attorney, sent the city a letter objecting to its process of closing and converting mobile home parks, saying it conflicts with state law and Sunnyvale’s own policy of preserving affordable housing.
In the letter, dated July 16, Constantine argues: “The full evaluation of the impact of replacing 54 low income-affordable mobile homes with $62 million townhouses on Sunnyvale’s supply of low-income affordable manufactured homes also cannot be avoided through this unlawful piecemealing.”
Constantine meanwhile has also filed a lawsuit challenging the city’s closure of the park.
But the city insists it’s acting fairly and within the scope of state law.
On April 23, the city’s planning commission voted 4-3 to approve a special development permit allowing Dividend Homes to redevelop the 3.26-acre park into 62 three-story townhouses. Vice chairwoman Carol Weiss and commissioners John Howe and Daniel Howard dissented.
Tonight’s meeting begins 7 in the City Council chambers, 456 W. Olive Ave. The public hearing on Blue Bonnet’s appeal will be the first one on the agenda.
