Poway Royal mobilehome park sale OK’d
The Poway City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to sell Poway Royal Mobilehome Park to Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation for $36.5 million.
The vote affirmed the council’s decision last month to sell the Metate Lane property to Wakeland as its second choice when top contender Millennium Housing abruptly nixed the transaction for tax reasons. The decision angered many Poway Royal residents who have lobbied aggressively to have the city sell to them rather than an outside nonprofit group.
Speaking on behalf of the park’s homeowners association, PRMOA President Morrie Itzkowitz said the city has repeatedly underrated the financing capabilities of his group.
“The residents do not want a third party making decisions for them, we’ve told you this time and time again,” Itzkowitz said, noting that an outside group will not fight to keep affordable rent rates or take a personal interest in keeping the park’s maintenance up.
But city staff members repeatedly assured the council Tuesday night that provisions written into the sale agreement with Wakeland make it clear that rent rates are not to be raised beyond normal inflation. Itzkowitz and fellow park residents, however, do not believe that will adequately protect residents.
“Where is your responsibility to the people ... you care nothing for the people of Poway Royal,” resident Sherry Wilks told the council.
Amid jeers from the audience, City Councilman Bob Emery said he took offense at such comments because he believes the city has done nothing but try to help Poway Royal residents going back more than a decade, when the city purchased the property at an inflated price because residents facing rent hikes had asked for help.
In other business, the council:
• voted unanimously to partner with the Escondido Humane Society for animal control services at the cost of $127,200 for the next three years. Poway previously had an animal control arrangement with the county. City Manager Jim Bowersox said the change is cost effective and time effective for residents, who will soon be able to retrieve lost pets in Escondido rather than Carlsbad.
• voted unanimously to install a stop sign on Silverset Street at Palisades/Arbolitos drives. The sign, which will make the intersection an all-way stop, was requested by residents who said drivers approaching the intersection after coming off of Twin Peaks Road frequently take the turn at dangerously high speeds.