Residents of a low-income senior mobile home community in Novato, California, say they have been promised ownership of their park after paying off roughly $20 million in bonds, a pledge the city now contests as negotiations over the property stretch into a 28-year dispute.
The Marin Valley Mobile Country Club (MVMCC), a 313-unit retirement community of more than 400 residents, many of them on fixed incomes, says a 1997 handshake agreement with the Novato Financing Authority (NFA) obligated the city to transfer title to the residents once the debt secured to buy the land was retired. Residents and their representative group, Park Acquisition Corp. (PAC), say they effectively paid the bonds through rent payments and that the transfer of ownership was the intended outcome. City officials say no such written agreement exists and that the property was purchased by the city to preserve the community when residents lacked the money to buy it themselves.
According to PAC, the NFA secured approximately $17 million in loans in 1997 so residents could remain in place. Residents have since paid what PAC describes as the full financial burden of two bonds with interest; PAC and residents estimate the total paid to date approaches $20 million and anticipate the remaining debt will be cleared in December 2027. The NFA was dissolved in 2011, and its assets, including MVMCC, were transferred to the City of Novato. No written contract memorializing a transfer of title to residents has been produced.
Novato Mayor Tim O’Connor said the city never agreed to convey title to residents once the debt was paid. In a written statement, O’Connor said the City purchased the park because residents were unable to do so and that ‘‘there was no agreement to hand over title, the residents do not pay the loan, the City does.’’ He said the city uses residents’ rent payments to pay the loan and that those funds become public revenue once received.
Pat Eklund, Novato council member and the city’s mayor in 1997, told media she remembers an understanding that ownership would transfer to the residents and criticized the absence of a written agreement. ‘‘The intent was Marin Valley would be owned by the residents who live there,’’ Eklund said. She added that ‘‘things got lost in translation’’ over the intervening decades and argued that the city has not used outside taxpayers’ money to finance the bonds, asserting the payments have come from residents themselves.
City officials and some past council members have also raised legal concerns about transferring publicly held property. Former Mayor Susan Wernick, speaking at a council meeting cited by residents, argued that transferring ownership could be deemed a gift of public funds, which is prohibited under California law. Legal counsel and city staff have pointed to the ‘‘public purpose’’ exception to the prohibition against gifts of public funds, a statutory pathway that permits some transfers when they further a public objective, but officials have not signaled that they consider such an exception dispositive in this case.
Negotiations over the park intensified after a proposed private sale surfaced in 2023. An outside buyer made an offer of about $30 million; residents opposed the prospective sale and the city dropped that transaction after community pushback. Residents say they then offered the city $20 million to purchase the property outright, on top of what they have already paid toward the bonds. The city commissioned an appraisal that valued the park at $26 million, a figure PAC called unfair and said did not account for the park’s nonprofit character. PAC later submitted a formal offer of $23.5 million; the city has not accepted that proposal.
Residents have argued that a sale at the city’s appraised price would put them at risk of being priced out of their homes. The average monthly lot rent cited by residents is roughly $660 per household; PAC estimates that if its $23.5 million offer were accepted, members would pay an additional $140 to $185 per month. Community members and advocates said those increases could make the park unaffordable for many, noting that Marin County is one of the nation’s most expensive housing markets.
City officials say Novato has faced longstanding fiscal pressures. A 2023 Marin County Civil Grand Jury report highlighted chronic structural deficits in the city’s finances. The city approved a $57.7 million budget for fiscal year 2025–26, expected to generate about $10 million in annual revenue; City Manager Amy Cunningham said that budget ‘‘marks the start of Novato’s journey toward long-term financial health’’ but does not yet account for full operational costs expected next year.
Residents and PAC leaders have linked the city’s fiscal strain to what they describe as a motivation to retain the park’s value. ‘‘The city’s had a lot of financial issues, fiscal issues, and I think for them to try to solve it on the backs of a lower-income senior housing is just unconscionable,’’ resident Serena Fisher told CBS. PAC President John Hansen and other residents said their offers are based on a mobile-home-park valuation prepared by a specialist using a nonprofit model and that the city’s appraisal relied on an appraiser who does not specialize in such communities.
Legal experts say the dispute involves both factual questions about what was promised and legal questions about the city’s authority to convey public property. Without a written agreement, the residents’ case hinges on testimony, municipal records and whether any prior council actions create enforceable expectations. The city has cited the absence of written documentation and the transfer of NFA assets to municipal control as key factors.
Negotiations between PAC and the city were ongoing as of the most recent public meetings, and the city declined to comment further on active talks. Residents have sought council votes, public hearings and negotiation in hopes of securing an outcome that would preserve the park as affordable senior housing. Advocates emphasize the population’s vulnerability: a large majority are seniors on fixed incomes, and PAC says 91 percent of residents meet low-income standards.
The dispute illustrates tensions that can arise when municipal governments intervene to preserve housing and the long-term legal and political consequences of informal agreements. With the schedule for bond payoff approaching, the stakes for residents and the city are likely to grow as both sides weigh the fiscal, legal and social implications of any final arrangement.