EL MONTE - The owners of a local mobile home park this week filed a claim against the city in an effort to halt the city from enacting rent control on mobile home property owners in the future.
Brookside Investments LTD., which owns El Monte's Brookside Mobile Country Club, 12700 Elliott Ave., is demanding $100,000 and the elimination of El Monte's Measure F ballot initiative in the upcoming special municipal election.
Resident complaints of high rents at Brookside sparked the council's decision to place the measure on the ballot.
The measure would repeal the 1990 voter-approved Mobilehome Tenant Rent Assistance Program and essentially allow the city to implement rent control.
While the 1990 ordinance provided a 10 percent rental discount for low-income seniors, it also included a clause barring the city from using taxpayer money or city resources to impose rent control laws on its mobile home parks.
Brookside attorneys are arguing that El Monte illegally passed resolutions to place Measure F on the ballot. They say the city used "tax expenditures relating to salaries and other consideration paid to Councilmembers, Attorneys and others... to deprive the citizens and property owners" of the benefits of the rental assistance program, according to the claim.
If the program is repealed, it will result in the violation of property owner rights and rental subsidies for the poor and needy, according to the claim.
Brookside attorneys did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
The El Monte City Council discussed the issue in closed session at Tuesday's meeting, city officials said.
"We're going to take it one step at a time," said city attorney Dave Gondek.
Filing a claim with a municipality is a requirement prior to filing a lawsuit - something that Brookside has already threatened in response to the City Council's approval of the ballot initiative.
Following the city's decision to place the initiative on the ballot, Brookside also sent notices of rent increases to residents. One tenant received a letter this month that due to the city's decision, her rent was being increased by 17 percent to $1,482 a month. It was unknown how many residents received that letter.
The resident's increased rent will be nearly triple the average rent in El Monte's mobile home communities, according to a city survey. The average rent at El Monte's mobile home parks is $489 for a single-wide space and $557 for a double-wide space, according to a city survey in which 18 of 33 total park owners in the city responded.
Residents for years have complained about skyrocketing rent at Brookside mobile home park.
Mayor Andre Quintero called the latest claims from the Brookside owners "undemocratic."
"These people are very vindictive," Quintero said.
maritza.velazquez@sgvn.com