By Khalida Sarwari
The Sunnyvale City Council decided this week it won’t block a proposed townhouse development that will displace a handful of dwellers remaining in the Blue Bonnet Mobile Home Park.
The council’s 7-0 vote Tuesday night followed a lengthy discussion that saw nearly a dozen speakers, including three council candidates, urge it to overturn the planning commission’s approval of Dividend Homes’ plan to redevelop the 3.26-acre park into 62 three-story townhouses.
The mood throughout the three-hour long ordeal was often tense and emotional, prompting Councilman Michael Goldman to remark, “everyone seems so angry today.”
Those who spoke in support of the appellants contended that closure and conversion of the park is legally and morally wrong.
“Ultimately, this project is bad for Sunnyvale,” said Richard Mehlinger, a resident and member of the Sunnyvale Democratic Club and Livable Sunnyvale. “It’s an inefficient use of land, it destroys affordable units, and it risks setting a bad precedent.”
Attorneys representing the developer and the residents accused the other side of being motivated by money. But council members said it came down to adhering to their city’s zoning codes and state laws.
“You can’t make somebody operate a business that they don’t want to operate,” said Councilman Jim Griffith. “You can’t dictate who’s going to buy and sell property, you can’t force a property owner to build a project that they don’t want to build and you’re not supposed to change the development guidelines for a project from the published law.”
But William Constantine, an attorney for the Blue Bonnet residents, contends it’s a lot more complicated than that.
“It’s just not true for so many different reasons that they can’t make somebody stay in the business,” he said. “What the Supreme Court has held is that they’re not requiring that person to stay in that business; what you’re doing is you’re requiring that site to stay in that particular business and if the person doesn’t like it their choice is to sell it to somebody else.”
With the appeal shot down, Blue Bonnet residents now will have to pin their hopes on a lawsuit challenging the city’s closure of the park. A ruling on the suit is expected to be handed down by Aug. 11.
A little more than a dozen rent control and affordable housing advocates gathered on the steps of City Hall prior to the council meeting to call on their elected officials to pass a rent control measure. They held signs saying: “Stop voting to sell our homes to developers” and “Affordable housing now!”
Sunnyvale council upholds plan to turn mobile home park into townhouses
