photo credit: City of Sebastopol
A rendering of the Woodmark Apartment complex in Sebastopol.

Residents at Sebastopol's Woodmark Apartments are at risk of being evicted en masse, it's due to pre-construction promises.

The message to many Woodmark residents is straightforward, if they don't have a farmworker living with them by the end of their current lease, they'll be evicted.

That's according to original deed restrictions on the 84-unit affordable apartment complex on Sebastopol's Bodega Avenue.

The project got off the ground with a $1 million dollar Section 514 loan from the US Department of Agriculture, and it got an even bigger boost from the state, 15 million dollars in tax credits.

The initial USDA loan required the units be rented to farm workers, but when those farm workers weren't applying, the apartments were filled with other tenants, violating the deed.

Some residents have turned to the city for protection, asking that Sebastopol adopt a "just-cause" eviction ordinance, but city attorney Alex Mog said there's lots to be determined.

"Would federal regulations requiring these units to be occupied by farm workers as a result of the funding of the project received, would those preempt this [just cause protection]?" Mog said. "That's not [an] answer that I'm prepared to answer right now."

Some Woodmark residents told Laura Hagar Rush of the Sebatsopol Times' they've been offered cash - up to $10,000 to move out by the end of October - and $5,000 by the end of November - before lease terms end in December.

Rush reports residents have been given referrals to two other apartment complexes managed by Woodmark's property management, Aperto.

Still, residents like Sandie Russell said they need protection from eviction and want to stay in Sebastopol.

"This is absolutely ridiculous that this has happened to us," Russell said. "We don't deserve it...and I think we have to really come together as a community."

Sebastopol is exploring what legal remedies the city can offer Woodmark residents, if any, to help them remain in their apartments despite the USDA restrictions.

KRCB News has reached out to Aperto Property Management for comment.