Laserfiche WebLink
STAFF Memorandum <br />Ordinance 881: Manufactured Home Parks <br /> <br /> <br />To: Planning Commission <br />From: Ben Gozola, Assistant Director DCAD <br />Meeting Date: 4-20-21 <br /> <br /> <br />INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND <br />It any walk of life, past practice and historical norms can be carried down year after year such that we take for <br />granted “the way it’s been done” is the way it’s supposed to be done. It’s no secret that in most communities, mobile <br />home parks are often times the modern-day equivalent of the Wild West when it comes to zoning which is not <br />surprising given manufactured homes are made to be relocated as opposed to being permanent features of the <br />landscape. For what appears to be forever, the City has worked with our mobile home parks by enforcing Minnesota <br />Department of Health (MDH) standards: provided a new unit or proposed change adhered to minimum MDH <br />requirements, the work was authorized to proceed. <br />In early March, this past-practice was finally challenged when one of our residents suggested that Chapter 16 of the <br />City Code precluded one of our manufactured home neighborhoods from placing a new unit on a pad that had been <br />vacant since 2011. After reviewing our City Codes and Zoning Ordinance, staff was forced to concur with the <br />complaining party as their reading of code is most certainly valid. Unfortunately, the impacts of this discovery (if left <br />unaddressed) are devastating to our manufactured home parks and are especially devastating to some of the City’s <br />lowest income residents as literally any change within Lakeside or Oak Grove will require a variance. Need to <br />relocate a home? Variance. Want to build a deck? Variance. Want to expand a storm shelter? Variance. As that is not <br />an acceptable state of affairs anywhere within the community, staff immediately began work on Ordinance 881. <br />The problems being addressed by Ordinance 881 are numerous, and identifying them individually would honestly <br />serve little purpose. As you will see, large swaths of existing Chapter 16 are proposed to be replaced or rewritten, <br />and an entirely new zoning district is proposed to regulate existing and future manufactured home communities. <br />Given the urgency to fix this problem, we’ve done our best in the time available to craft the best solution we can to <br />at least address the upcoming building season. With the zoning code update project happening soon, the City will <br />have another bite of the apple in short order should additional amendments be needed. <br />ORDINANCE 881 OVERVIEW <br />Ordinance 881 proposes amendments to Chapter 16 of the City Code and Chapter 4 of the Zoning Code. The new <br />and revised regulations would apply to all existing and future manufactured home communities within the City of <br />New Brighton.