The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors spent roughly an hour at Tuesday’s meeting on an appeal for Cali Lake RV Park to retain long-term residency before continuing the matter.
It is set to be heard again at the board’s Sept. 17 public hearing session.
Cali Lake owner Stewart Silver said he was encouraged by the discussion that took place on Tuesday.
“I honestly believe that they’re going to do this,” he said in a phone interview Thursday. “Everything is going to be fine.”
In April, the county Regional Planning Commission had granted Silver a conditional use permit for short-term stays of up to 90 days within a six-month period at the park, located in a remote location east of Santa Clarita limits and south of Agua Dulce.
Much of the discussion focused on the board trying to determine why the commission had presented findings that would limit stays to that shorter timeframe due to the park being located in what has been deemed to be a high fire and flood severity zone.
That was a point raised by both 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the Santa Clarita Valley and was acting as chair of the board on Tuesday, and 4th District Supervisor Janice Hahn. Both questioned the idea that short-term residents would be better equipped to evacuate during an emergency than long-term residents.
“I’m unclear on the county’s findings,” Hahn said.
Amy Bodek, director of Regional Planning, said the 90-day limit has always been in the conditional use permit for the RV park and that the county can enforce that due to the high risk of fires and floods, despite state law saying length of stay cannot be limited “except for substantial findings.” She added that the location, which has been used as a picnic ground dating back to the 1930s, was never meant to be used for permanent housing.
Barger said that with the county facing local emergencies around affordable housing and homelessness, it wouldn’t make sense to put more people on the streets.
Bodek said allowing for long-term stays would put the park more into the definition of permanent housing rather than simply a mobile home park.
“I would argue that, given that this board has declared a state of emergency as it relates to housing, that maybe that’s the exception to address it,” Barger said. “I mean, I don’t know. I’m not satisfied with the answer, a little disappointed, quite frankly, but I’m not satisfied with the answers I’m getting, and I don’t feel comfortable with the path that you’re taking us down.”
Her question to the county’s legal counsel was if allowing long-term residency would increase the county’s liability, which Barger said needs to be figured out before the board makes its decision next month.
Barger added that stipulations could be put into the CUP that would only allow for operable RVs to be housed at the park, as well as concerns about evacuations.
“I’m not comfortable voting on it today as is, given the questions, so I would ask that we continue this hearing ’til our next meeting,” Barger said.
Silver said Thursday that he would comply with whatever is needed to ensure residents of the park can continue to live there.
“I didn’t think it was going to end this way,” he said. “I was prepared to go the distance.”
Chris Chapman, attorney for Silver and the park, said there is no correlation between length of stay and the health and safety of the residents.
“If you have an apartment building, for example, and you have Airbnb people and you have long-term stay people,” Chapman said, “and there’s a fire, and someone’s there for one night and someone’s there for 30 days, who’s gonna know where to go? The person that’s been there longer. So I would like to see a study from Planning that supports this ridiculous theory that if you’re there short-term, you’re better equipped to evacuate.”
Multiple residents of the park spoke in front of the board on Tuesday, including Anthony Ferguson, the longest-tenured at 40 years.
“Where am I going to go? I’ve been in the same place,” Ferguson said. “I’ve lived in the same daggun place for 40 years. Why am I getting kicked out? Why do we have to move every 30 or 60 (days) or whatever these rules are?”
Michael Strange, a six-year resident, said there have been several fires in the area during his time there, but they typically “put them out before the Fire Department got there.”
“These people coming in and out, they don’t know what to do,” Strange said of what he’s seen happen during an emergency situation. “They’re the ones that are going to cause people to get hurt. Not us.”
