State housing officials threaten to shut down mobile park
plagued by health and safety violations
Gilroy – State housing officials have issued an ultimatum to the owner of a ramshackle trailer park in south Gilroy, giving him one month to address serious health and safety violations or face suspension of the park’s operating license and referral to county prosecutors.
Failure to comply with the order from the California Department of Housing and Community Development would force two dozen low-income families from their trailers in Velladao Mobile Home Park, tucked out of view by the corner of Luchessa Avenue and Monterey Road.
“The park sewer system has a documented history of system failures resulting in sewage overflows and ground contamination,” an HCD official wrote last week to park owner Thomas Velladao, a Marin tax accountant. “These sewage overflows … expose adults and children to an unreasonable health and safety risk. In the interest of public safety, the park sewer system is being ordered replaced … [O]r show justification from a professional sewer system evaluator explaining why the system does not need replacing.”
The final notice, which sets a compliance date of 30 days from June 1, also requires Velladao to repave the park’s cracked and pothole-filled road system, repair street lamps, and fix dozens of other health and safety violations.
State inspectors discovered the sub-standard living conditions in mid-March, after responding to reports of a 700 square foot sewage spill.
Park owner Velladao and manager Robert Collins could not be reached for comment late Friday.
In May, following another sewage outbreak of a smaller scale, Collins said he had commenced the bidding process for a contractor who would repave roads and inspect and replace portions of the sewer system. He had also filled some pot holes, covered exposed electrical outlets in the communal laundry room, and cut back tree branches hanging dangerously close to power lines.
The two dozen families living in the mish-mash of trailers also received orders to clean up animal droppings, remove illegal storage shacks and correct dozens of other violations.
State officials reported that residents had complied with 70 percent of the clean-up orders by early May, but criticized park management for failing to address the most pressing violations.
The final compliance order issued last week represents the end game for state officials, who warned Velladao in the letter of the potential for $500 in daily fines for each uncorrected violation, as well as the possibility of jail time.
Though Velladao Mobile Park lies within city limits, HCD retains oversight of the area as a transportation facility. That could change if state housing officials choose to suspend the park’s operating license, a move that would prevent the owner from collecting rent.
“We would suspend the permit and then turn it over to the city attorney and (district attorney) and cooperate with them as they go through their decision-making,” said HCD spokeswoman Janet Huston. “Ideally, we would hope the park operator and residents would correct these violations. We consider this an option of last resort. These homes are peoples’ shelters, but they need to be safe and habitable.”
If the license is suspended, state law requires the owner to pay relocation benefits equaling two months worth of “market rent,” plus the costs for a deposit on utilities. The law allows city officials to provide “advance” relocation assistance to tenants and place liens on the park to recover the costs.
“If it’s within the city’s purview to do anything, they’ll have 100 percent of my (city) council’s backing to do these things right away,” Mayor Al Pinheiro said Friday. “Life and safety has to be taken care of.”
For the first time in four years, the prospect of change – whether major repairs to the park or a new home – gave resident Livia Alvarado some hope. Alvarado publicly exposed the substandard living conditions at Velladao in mid-March, after a week of pleading with park managers to clean the sewage outside her daughter’s bedroom window.
“I feel more happy and at peace now,” she said. “I feel like something good will come out of this. We’ve had to endure this for too long.”
Editor’s note: Dispatch employee Mary Gamboa translated the comments of Livia Alvarado.
