SAN JOSE — Kathi Peterson, a realtor from Orange County, spent her life savings buying a mobile home in the Mountain Springs senior retirement park in San Jose.

Moving back to the Bay Area was her dream, but three years later, Peterson found herself pleading with the City Council to save her home. “I’m divorced and moved here a few years ago because of an illness and to be close to my sister,” Peterson, 69, told the council Tuesday. “I feel like the rug got pulled out from underneath me when I heard about these plans.”

During a marathon meeting Tuesday, the council approved a new policy to encourage preserving the city’s 59 mobile home parks — one of San Jose’s last affordable housing options amid soaring rents — and setting guidelines for closing a park. The policy also enhanced tenant protections, including giving residents a fair price for their homes and relocation benefits, and specified the City Council must approve closures.

The emotional debate, which spawned four hours of testimony from an overflowing room of mobile home park residents and owners, began last year when Winchester Ranch Mobile Home Park’s owners announced plans to close. The owners are selling to PulteGroup, who will build new apartments and a commercial complex across from Santana Row.

If Winchester Ranch was allowed to close, other mobile home park residents feared their parks might be next. The council last summer placed a moratorium on park closures while the city reviewed its 1986 ordinance that regulates the process but has never been used.

On Tuesday, the council ordered a six-month extension of that moratorium, set to expire Thursday, and asked staff to work on a new ordinance specific to park closures — situations where owners want to close without redeveloping the land.

Lee Arioto, one of the Winchester Ranch’s owners, told this newspaper Tuesday the council’s decision — particularly the moratorium extension — delays his family’s move to close the park, but won’t stop it.

“I don’t think it puts a wrench in our plans,” Arioto said following the meeting. “But we’ve been patient in trying to work with the city and residents for years now. Our intention is not to fight. We want to come up with a plan that works for everyone.”

Arioto proposed giving Winchester Ranch residents, many of whom are elderly and living on a fixed income, an apartment inside the new development — without raising the rent — but residents worried about losing their investments and sense of community.

Several City Council members conceded that nothing can stop a determined mobile park owner from selling their land and getting out of the business. “I think we need to face the reality,” said Vice Mayor Rose Herrera. “If they want to go out of business, they can do that.”

For Peterson and others that lined up to appeal to the council, Tuesday’s decision provided some solace — but not total protection in the face of a shaky future.

Adding another layer of uncertainty was a 7-4 vote by the council to continue talks to create an “opt-in” proposal to allow park owners to increase rent above the 7 percent rent-control cap after a resident moves out and to pass on capital improvements to renters with less scrutiny.

Councilmen Ash Kalra, Raul Peralez, Tam Nguyen and Donald Rocha voted against it.

Contact Ramona Giwargis at 408-920-5705. Follow her at Twitter.com/ramonagiwargis.