City officials are applying pressure to the state to remedy deplorable living conditions at Lazy Wheels Mobile Home Park and suggest that last week’s deadly fire there was due to poor state oversight.
City and Modesto Fire Department officials say their hands are tied to enforce health and safety laws because the California Department of Housing & Community Development (HCD) has jurisdiction over mobile home parks and their concerns are falling on death ears.
The city has been trying for decades to get the park, located right next to the Whitmore Avenue freeway onramp, abated.
Their focus intensified after the fire last week that took the life of a transient person who turned a small metal shed into makeshift shelter. Officials have not identified the victim.
When three members of the Ceres City Council paid a visit to the park and burned shed last week, they saw a small portable propane burner in the debris. Authorities have not determined the exact cause of the blaze, which also destroyed a car parked next to the shed.
Residents have complained bitterly to the park owner electricity about poor living conditions and services being cut off for years. They turned to California Rural Legal Assistance which sued to correct deficiencies in the park.
The park and neighboring parcels are now in the hands of developer Anthony Nowaid of the Calabasas based Metro Investment.
Interim Police Chief Trenton Johnson said most of the calls relating to the park relate to domestic disturbance and welfare checks and to report bad living conditions. But in a walk through the park he and Lt. Jeff Godfrey encountered squatters in possession of bikes and other equipment.
The night of the fatal fire, Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra said she heard the chatter over the police radio and the dispatchers call to have TID turn off the power to the park because of the fire.
“That’s when I heard dispatch call back and say TID hasn’t had power in this lot for a year and a half,” said Vierra. “Everyone here is running off their own generators if they want power.”
Ordinarily the city would red-tag a residence which doesn’t have basic services like power, natural gas or power. But state law gives all the power to HCD – even if public health and safety are at risk.
“If the house is substandard, that’s the state’s responsibility,” said Ceres City Manager Doug Dunford. “We can’t touch it. We can’t go in there and say, ‘hey, fix it up or we’re gonna cite you.’ Even if it’s in the city limits of Ceres.”
Mayor Javier Lopez said he delved into living conditions at the park after a December fire.
“I had an opportunity to find out that the – I’m going to call them a slumlord – has been ignoring them, trying to raise their rent, deliberately trying to kick them out of there,” said the mayor. “I think that’s the unfortunate part about this.”
Lopez said the city attorney is looking into the city’s options to “see how far we could take it with our clean-up efforts.”
He said that officials with the HCD were out to inspect the park three weeks before the fire and “didn’t tag anything.”
“Nobody deserves to live here,” said Dunford as he looked around, “but we don’t have the authority to go in and clean it up and move these families out because it’s all the state (in control.)”
He added: “for some reason, the state has latched onto this like a dog on a bone. It’s like, why don’t you let go of it?”
He noted how HCD is stringent about forcing cities to “jump through the hoops” to develop Housing Elements yet are neglect in their own responsibilities to protect tenants.
State Assemblyman Juan Alanis, R-Modesto, shares the city’s concerns and fired off a letter to the Director of the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) requesting a meeting to discuss the concerns raised by city officials.
“Specifically, I want to hear from the department why, according to media reports and local decision makers, no homes were red-tagged, and what the department plans to do to address the unsafe conditions at this mobile home park before further harm occurs,” wrote Alanis. “The status quo is clearly unacceptable, and the Department needs to be open, honest and transparent about this situation.”
If it were left up to the city, Lazy Wheels Mobile Home Park – established in 1947 – would have been dismantled years ago. The city deems it an eyesore and unsafe for residents. On Aug. 5, 2013 the Ceres Planning Commission approved the filing of a Notice of Nonconformance to have the park dismantled within a five years ending in 2018.
The park is a “non-conforming use” since residences are not permitted in the Highway Commercial zone. The zoning of Lazy Wheels changed in 2010 when the state purchased the park and parcels west of Ceres High School and north of Whitmore Avenue as part of the reconfiguration of the Whitmore interchange with Highway 99. The state bought up the property – including Lazy Wheels – rather than pieces needed for right-of-way. After the interchange was completed, the state sold the property in March 2013.
The California Health and Safety Section 18.300 states that the California Housing and Community Development has jurisdiction to enforce regulations pertaining to mobile home parks. The property owner of the mobile home park must also abide by the mobile home residency law, which is found in Civil Code 798 enforced by HCD.
“The state of California always talks about how proud they are with their environmental laws and here they are saying ‘hands off’ and they’re just being irresponsible,” said the mayor.
During a March 17 inspection by HCD, said Dunford, HCD didn’t red-tag a single residence. When the state inspector returned to the park on Tuesday, the day after the March 31 fire, Dunford said he was confronted about failing to condemn the park with no electrical service and other code violations.
Chief Johnson said several years ago a person broke into one of the mobile home units and died of a drug overdose. Workers came out to board up the structure, not realizing there was a body decaying inside. The body was discovered until three months later after the unit was removed from the park.
“All these violations here with our Code Enforcement would have this place red-tagged in a day,” said Johnson.
Councilwoman Cerina Otero walked through the park on Wednesday and remarked “it’s sad and horrific for people to live here like this.”
She agreed that the state has failed to prove accountable for its role in overseeing the park.
At the western edge of the park next to the freeway onramp sound wall, a number of abandoned units were wrapped in tarps next to a homeless camp.
As she sat on her scooter, park tenant Michelle Markle explained to visiting media and city officials how electricity was cut off in the park years ago. Originally she came to the park in an RV in 2019 and rented a space for $450 per month. Residents have not been paying since power was cut off.
“You can’t walk on unsteady ground,” said Markle. “I have to help me in the scooter. I have no money left over after buying ice to survive because when I get too hot I have to pack myself in ice. I need ice to keep my food.”
The day prior Markle said her unit had no water service.
She told the Courier that her repeated calls to the park ownerships get shuffled off to voicemails that are never answered.
Markle said she’s unable to take hot showers at home and has to go the shuttle shower on Thursdays.
“These people are old and don’t deserve this being done to them,” Markle tearfully said. “They should be able to live their last years of their lives in dignity and there’s no dignity here. They can’t move their home. They can’t afford to go out there with what the rent is now.”
Ray and Heather Hayes explained that the CRLA and park owners came to a settlement on Tuesday, April 1.
Calls to CRLA were not returned.
“The attorneys are both working together to get Nowaid to fix the power lines and get out electricity and all the utilities restored,” said Heather Hayes. “But the living conditions have been horrible.”
The couple said they’ve been without power since June 2, 2023 and have to use a generator for power since
“I just want to make sure everyone’s standard of living is here and I don’t understand how the state approved it,” said Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra.
The Hayes’s said they’ve had water service but surprised to find the tap dry on Wednesday. That puzzled Vierra who said that city records show that there’s been no water service at the park since 2017.
