FREMONT — Raising rent at
Besaro Mobile Home Park to fair market rate would extend the park's
operation "for a short period of time," perhaps three to five years,
but ultimately park tenants will be moved out and the land will be
converted to another use, property co-owner David Beretta said this
week.
During an administrative hearing to determine whether park
owners may increase rent up to 43 percent — far exceeding the 3 percent
annual increase capped under the city's rent-control ordinance —
Beretta testified that the 30-acre property in North Fremont never was
intended to remain a mobile home park.
Park owners and tenants
have been at odds over the rent for three years. After this week's
hearing, which is scheduled to conclude today, Administrative Law Judge
Ruth Astle will determine whether rent may be increased and by how
much. Her decision could be appealed.
After his initial remarks
that charging market-rate rent might delay the park's closure by three
to five years, Beretta was asked why the company would jump through
legal hoops to increase rent if it plans to shut down the park in the
near future. At that point, the property owner said it wouldn't
necessarily be three to five years before the park closed.
How
soon the land would be converted to another use "may be a question of
time and how the world changes," said Beretta, one of 32 owners of
Besaro who split the profits from the property.
Beretta said
it would take a couple years to close the park and suggested that the
company, which has operated the land as a mobile home park since the
1970s, wants to maintain good relations with its tenants by not rushing
into a closure.
About 45 residents turned out for Beretta's
testimony, with some wearing the same red "Save Our Seniors" T-shirts
worn seven years ago, the last time they fought their landlords over a
major rent increase. For some, this week was the first time they had
heard that the park might close in three to five years even if rent is
increased substantially.
Besaro rents to tenants 55 and over,
many of whom live on fixed incomes. The average tenant there pays
$669.55 monthly, while residents at the other two mobile home parks in
Fremont pay $716 to $782, on average, according to a report that Besaro
filed with the city.
Besaro turned a $1.09 million profit in 2006
and a $1.18 million profit in 2007, but park owners believe the land is
worth $68 million. The owners want to raise the monthly rent to $895
and have offered to subsidize rent for tenants whose monthly income is
less than $2,625 and whose assets are worth less than $75,000.
Residents
said few tenants would qualify for the subsidy, while their attorney,
Bruce Stanton, called the suggestion of a 43 percent rent increase
"part fantasy, part outrage and totally incredible."
Stanton said
Besaro owners are trying to circumvent the city's rent control and
that, if successful, would render the ordinance meaningless.
"It really just makes a mockery of the ordinance itself," he said.
The administrative hearing is scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. today in the Council Chamber in City Hall.
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