{"id":5024,"date":"2026-07-20T18:12:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T18:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5024"},"modified":"2026-07-20T18:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T18:12:22","slug":"petaluma-mobile-home-park-could-serve-as-a-test-case-for-bay-area-cities-and-residents-fighting-closures-and-conversions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5024","title":{"rendered":"Petaluma mobile home park could serve as a test case for Bay Area cities and residents fighting closures and conversions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Petaluma has served as a proving ground for tightened mobile home park regulations and is poised to do so again as the owners of Little Woods Mobile Villa seek to push forward with shuttering the 78-space park off Lakeville Highway.<\/p>

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The city has been a ground zero of sorts as a group of park owners have launched a flurry of lawsuits over new rules passed to limit rent increases on mobile home spaces and bolster resident protections as part of a wave of tighter regulations regionally and at the state level.<\/p>\n

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In June 2024, Little Woods owners notified the city of their intent to close, setting off a lengthy, complex and not often used process that has emerged as one of the flashpoints in the wider fight over mobile home park regulation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is a rare occurrence,\u201d said Petaluma Assistant City Attorney Dylan Brady. \u201cI know there\u2019s no case law. It\u2019s very new.\u201d<\/p>\n

Closing and converting mobile home parks, which are governed by different rules than other housing, comes with noticing requirements, a relocation impact and compensation assessment conducted by a consultant of the city\u2019s choosing and at the cost of the park owner, and an ultimate decision by elected council members.<\/p>\n

While Petaluma\u2019s guiding rules have been in place for two decades, California tightened its own laws on the process starting in 2021.<\/p>\n

Advocates say the strict regulations are necessary to preserve a slim share of affordable housing and protect low-income residents who own their homes but rent the spaces below them and have few affordable options to relocate. The homes themselves are often difficult and costly to move.<\/p>

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In May 2025, after their unsuccessful protest, Little Woods ownership paid a roughly $200,000 deposit to the city for the relocation assessment, which started later that year.<\/p>\n

But, owners also filed a claim for a refund, and in November 2025, sued the city over the cost, asking a judge to deem it unlawful. That case, and a similar one out of Petaluma\u2019s Capri Villa with the same owners, are ongoing. Meanwhile, on June 29, Little Woods submitted another legal filing to compel the city to produce the report.<\/p>\n

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Little Woods owner Nick Ubaldi said the city\u2019s tightened rent control drove them to pursue closure in the first place. Now, \u201cthey\u2019ve collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from us, and they\u2019re just playing games,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve basically been left in (the) lurch here.\u201d He noted that the city had originally estimated completion of the report, outlining how much it will cost to close the park, by the end of March 2026. After multiple inquiries, Ubaldi said, it\u2019s been \u201cradio silence.\u201d<\/p>

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The report is still in process, Brady said, but nearing completion and expected within the next couple months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everybody agrees that property owners should have the ability to use their property,\u201d Brady said. But, nearly 100 residents could be displaced \u201cthrough no fault of their own,\u201d he added, noting the city wants to make sure the report accounts for the true weight of that impact and meets the complex legal requirements. \u201cIt\u2019s a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lakeville Highway property is only zoned for mobile home parks, and owners haven\u2019t pursued a change in zoning for any other building to date.<\/p>\n

Protections and pushback<\/h4>\n

Other cities, too, are grappling with the threat of park closures and the backlash around protections. A national legal group recently waded into the legal fight in Windsor, where Ubaldi is challenging the town\u2019s emergency moratorium preventing the closure of another of his family\u2019s parks.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit was initially dismissed but is up on appeal.<\/p>\n

Ubaldi and his family own at least six mobile home parks outright in Sonoma and Napa counties and have stakes in a number of others across the state. He has been an outspoken critic of regulations he said have \u201ceffectively strangled\u201d his business, and his parks have been at the forefront of much of the related litigation in Petaluma and several other cities in Sonoma County.<\/p>\n

Little Woods ownership has brought six lawsuits against Petaluma. Another lawsuit, filed in federal court with the owner of nearby Youngstown Mobile Home Park, relating to Petaluma\u2019s rent restrictions and the state\u2019s closure law was dismissed in 2024. While Ubaldi isn\u2019t alone in pushing back, Petaluma hasn\u2019t seen the same resistance from all owners, Brady said.<\/p>\n

Ubaldi also works for Stockton-based Harmony Communities, a controversial mobile home park management company that oversees dozens of properties in California and Oregon, including Ubaldi-owned parks in Sonoma County.<\/p>\n

A KQED analysis of property records showed Harmony Communities has become a major player, managing roughly 80 parks in California as of 2025.<\/p>

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The wave of local and state regulations shoring up mobile home rent increases and protections in recent years came in response to widespread advocacy from residents. Many are older and retired or living on low or fixed incomes. The rising cost of living and fear of displacement has pushed them to the brink, residents say.<\/p>\n

In some parks, including some managed by Harmony Communities, residents have described \u2014 and in some cases sued over \u2014 aggressive tactics, pointing to harsh rule enforcement, eviction threats and passed-through expenses.<\/p>\n

After hearing from Sonoma County and other mobile home residents, Rep. Mike Thompson recently reached out to the Sonoma County district attorney to look into their concerns and state Attorney General Rob Bonta, requesting he review allegations of unfair business practices and consumer harms. Separately, Thompson, D-St. Helena, asked the Trump administration to investigate anti-competitive practices by institutional mobile home park investors \u2014 a point of focus in the national debate over mobile home parks.<\/p>\n