Garden Grove RV Park Residents Told to Leave

Not only does Mario Salcedo not know where he’ll take his wife and three kids when he’s finally evicted, but he also isn’t sure his RV -- the family home for the last 10 years -- will even run.

The Salcedos and nearly 140 other families must move out of Garden Grove’s Travel Country Recreational Vehicle Park by May 15, a bleak prospect because the park’s $500 to $600 rent will be difficult to duplicate.

“It was such short notice, I’m not prepared. If you have six or eight months, you start saving,� Salcedo said after a meeting between residents and the Fair Housing Council of Orange County on Tuesday to discuss possible courses of action. The park’s owners are selling the property to the city.

“Most of us are low-income people. We don’t know what we’re going to do,� Salcedo said.

The city intends to purchase the property for $4 million by May 12 as part of its Harbor Boulevard corridor redevelopment project. As terms of an agreement between the city and park owners Patricia and Terry Tognazzini, 75% of the leases must be terminated or the city can back out of the deal, said Matthew Fertal, Garden Grove city manager.

On March 15, the Tognazzinis gave residents 60-day notices to remove their trailers from the park, at 12721 Harbor Blvd. Many consider the RV park a permanent home and complained that wasn’t enough time.

Built in 1972, Travel Country Park was supposed to be a place where travelers could park their RVs for a week or two. Instead, most residents have lived there for more than a year and some up to 15 or 20 years.

That fact has created an issue: Although the 60 days’ notice to leave is twice as long as apartment renters are often given, community advocates and residents say the park has become permanent housing, and like mobile-home owners, tenants should receive a year’s notice.

“We’re not acknowledging that this is a residential property,� Fertal said. “But there are so many conflicts between state and city codes over the years, it would be difficult to effectively enforce this truly as an RV park.�

The Tognazzinis didn’t return phone calls for comment.

“It’s not easy to find a place to house your mobile home. And it’s even worse if there are 140 families looking,� said Guadalupe Gonzalez of ACORN, an advocacy organization for low- to moderate-income families. The Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now is helping the residents fight.

The city plans to turn Harbor Boulevard between Chapman Avenue and the Garden Grove Freeway into a tourist district, with restaurants, hotels and entertainment venues called International West, said Chet Yoshizaki, Garden Grove’s economic development manager.

As part of the project, the city purchased a motel -- now empty land -- adjacent to the park from the Tognazzinis in May 2003. At the same time, the city entered into an option agreement to buy the RV park by this May 12, said Yoshizaki.

“The occupants shouldn’t have expected this to be a long-term residential property,� said Fertal. “However, no one wants to force anyone out on the street if they have no place to go. If they need more time, I think that’s something that can be worked out between us,� the Tognazzinis and the residents, he said.