Goleta has lost a legal bid to control mobile home plot rental rates, and now 150 households along Hollister Avenue expect a spike in their monthly dues.
A U.S. District Court judge in Los Angeles this week sided with Daniel Guggenheim, owner of the Rancho Mobile Homes park, who sued over a rent control ordinance that the City Council adopted after Goleta's 2002 incorporation to promote affordable housing.
It's the same ordinance Santa Barbara County enacted in 1979. Goleta became vulnerable when it incorporated and adopted all of the county's ordinances, because newly enacted ordinances are open to legal challenge.
Monday's summary judgment paves the way for three other rent-controlled parks in the city -- the University, Wayside Village and Santa Barbara West parks -- to raise rates on an additional 400 households.
Posted by gandlwoods at November 6, 2004 07:26 AM