MOORPARK : Petition Drive on Rent Law Succeeds

A Moorpark mobile home park owner who wants to overturn a new rent control ordinance through a public vote has gathered enough signatures to force the city to hold a special election on the matter, county elections officials have announced.

Representatives of Dale Williams, owner of the Villa del Arroyo mobile home park, collected 1,507 valid signatures on petitions seeking the referendum, 156 more than the 1,351 needed to force a vote, officials said Thursday.

Since Williams began his petition drive in October, city officials have characterized the move as an outside influence taking advantage of the process designed to give Moorpark residents a voice in how the city is run. City officials said Williams lives in Sacramento.

The special election will cost the city about $20,000, officials said.

At issue is an ordinance adopted unanimously by the City Council in October that would regulate the amount of rent that park owners can charge new tenants after mobile homes are sold. The ordinance would cap any rent increase at 5% or the consumer price index--whichever is less--over any 12-month period, and would allow just two such increases every five years.

The city already regulates annual rent increases on units that are not sold.

Bruce Bradley, Ventura County assistant registrar of voters, said 73.5% of the 2,049 signatures Williams collected were declared valid.

Moorpark City Clerk Lillian Hare said the council would be asked to certify the results of the petition drive at its meeting Wednesday and that the special election would probably be held in March or April. The ordinance has been suspended until a vote can be held or until the council voluntarily decides to repeal it, which city officials said is unlikely.