OCEANSIDE —— Tales of having incurred apparently illegal rent hikes or being duped into signing pricey 30-year leases were related Thursday at Oceanside City Hall by several residents of Catalina Mobile Estates.

Many current and former residents also told of drug-dealing and prostitution, broken showers and utilities, parking shortages and filthy conditions in the 57-space, 2.1-acre mobile-home park in west Oceanside.

"What these people say is true," said former Catalina resident Carol Lewis, who said she was unfairly evicted from the park. "It's really unfortunate."

The revelations came at Thursday's meeting of Oceanside's Manufactured Homes Fair Practices Commission, a city panel that's charged with approving and regulating rents in Oceanside's mobile-home parks in accordance with the city's rent-control ordinance.

That law states that the city should protect mobile-home owners "from unreasonable space rental increases," while ensuring that park owners "receive a just and reasonable return on their property."

The commission did not make any decisions Thursday on the Catalina issues, instead voting to continue its hearing until Sept. 22 so that city officials would have time to review a hefty rebuttal packet submitted by an attorney representing the park's owner.

The city is charging that Catalina Mobile Estates owner John Grant violated the city's rent-control ordinance by illegally increasing rents, overbilling residents a total of at least $64,679.89 in the last several years. The city has also charged that Grant owes the city tens of thousands in unpaid registration fees and penalties.

Grant, who did not attend Thursday's meeting because he was on vacation at Mammoth Lakes, took issue last week with the city's figures. Grant told the North County Times that he only overbilled three residents —— two of them for less than $1,000, and a third for $2,000 —— and had already reimbursed them.

But Margery Pierce, Oceanside's housing director, presented figures Thursday that show Grant appears to have overcharged each of 11 spaces between $762.33 and $16,742.31.

Several residents offered testimony Thursday that appeared to back up Pierce's position.

Amparo Kazerski said that the park's management recently notified her that her monthly rent would spike from $273 to $700.

"That's my place," Kazerski said. "I can't pay that much."

Other residents said their monthly rents have already been increased by $50 or $100, even though such hikes require the approval of the city.

Several Spanish-speaking residents, relating their tales through a translator, told of having been tricked into signing 30-year leases without being notified of the city's rent-control ordinance.

"As you can see, all the 30-year leases are just for Hispanics," said Ignacio Molina through a translator, adding that he would have chosen to pay city-regulated monthly rents had he been told of that option.

Attorney Terry Dowdall of Orange County submitted a rebuttal packet on Grant's behalf that included a 40-page legal brief, a copy of the city's rent-control ordinance, and other laws and court rulings.

Councilwoman Esther Sanchez, who acts as the City Council's liaison to the commission, took issue with Dowdall's presence at Thursday's hearing, saying that the attorney has a conflict of interest because he represents Oceanside on issues related to the city-owned Laguna Vista Mobile Estates.

Before the meeting, Sanchez said of Grant that "it's hard to accept that someone would be so ruthless" in "taking advantage of people on very fixed incomes."

"He has crossed some very serious legal lines," Sanchez said, adding that "it's our duty as the government to protect those that cannot be protected."

When the commission reconvenes Sept. 22, it will vote on establishing set rents for Catalina's mobile-home spaces that are regulated by the city's rent-control ordinance. The commission would have the power to set rents at every space in Catalina except the 10 or so whose residents have signed long-term leases.

The city's proposed list of new rents calls for 30 mobile-home owners to pay less than $200 per month. An additional 11 mobile-home owners would pay $200 to $300 per month.

Grant said last week that the average rent in the park was now about $400 and that he would not accept any city-mandated rent payments that are lower than he's already charging.

Grant also told the North County Times that much of the debate was moot because he plans to close the park by summer 2007.

"Reasonable people in the city of Oceanside would say, 'Great, get rid of that old trailer park,' " Grant said, adding that residents of the park "don't like it, (but) they're going to have to move."

Contact staff writer Ben Frumin at (760) 901-4067 or bfrumin@nctimes.com.