City of Thibodaux Zoning Review - South Central Planning ...

Thibodaux Zoning Review 2010Comparable Cities –Mobile, Manufactured andModular Home CodesAs aforementioned, all modular homes are required to meetstate, local and regional building codes. Therefore, zoning regulationsin all comparable areas treat modular homes the sameas site built homes. This section will analyze and compare howeach community addresses the issue of mobile and manufacturedhomes.City of HammondThe City of Hammond defines mobile and manufacturedhomes as a transportable building, built on a chassis or towable,and designed to be used without a permanent foundation. Themobile home can be no more than five (5) years old at thetime of approval. The definition does not include travel trailers,pickup coaches, motor homes, camping trailers or recreationalvehicles. Mobile and manufactured housing must be skirted andanchored. Both mobile and manufactured homes must meetClass A (new mobile home which meets the latest HUD standardsand appearance standards for single family home), ClassB (meets the latest HUD standards but does not meet aestheticstandards for single family housing), or Class C built afterJanuary 1, 1994 and complies with recent or prior HUD regulations,meets minimum housing codes and is not older than five(5) years). Mobile homes are permitted in the more rural areaswhich are zoned R-S, Suburban District.City of RustonRuston is very restrictive regarding the location of manufacturedhomes. The zoning ordinance provides the correctdefinition of manufactured homes, but uses it interchangeablywith “mobile home”. In all but several instances manufacturedhomes are confined to mobile home subdivisions or mobilehome tracts. Mobile home subdivisions are designed to accommodatethe different configuration of manufactured housingwhich tends to be longer and narrower than site built homes.Like any other subdivision, these developments must meet all ofthe subdivision or development codes regarding layout of streets,public utilities and other site requirements. But the size of thelots and the zoning set back requirements may vary so that atypical manufactured home can be situated on the lot withoutthe need for variances. Lots are meant to be sold to individualhomeowners who place their own manufactured or mobilehomes on their lots. This is different from a manufactured homepark which is generally owned and managed by a single propertyowner. The manufactured home park drive or “street” may or maynot be of the same standard as public roads as all is containedunder private ownership. Spaces are leased to the manufacturedhome owner. Sometimes individual homes are rented or leased,too. Ruston’s M-1 mobile home subdivision district allows “alluses as permitted and regulated in a R-3 multi-family district.”The R-3 zone is designed to provide high density residentialdwellings including apartments and rooming houses. This seemsto be a little contradictory to the development of manufacturedhome subdivisions which seems to envision low density singlefamily uses.Ruston does allow at least two exceptions to this rule. Amanufactured home is allowed as a dwelling for a watchmanor custodian living on the business site in industrial zones. Aconditional permit may be obtained for a temporary use of amanufactured home as a dwelling in other zones.City of PinevilleAn overlay district is a special kind of zoning tool. An overlaydistrict lessens or adds protection as needed for special situationswithin a particular district. Regulations of the overlay districtprovide other stipulations for particular land uses. A highwaycorridor overlay is a typical kind of overlay district found inheavy commercial areas where building setbacks, height limitationsand aesthetic requirements may be different for the oneprimary transportation corridor in the district, for example CanalStreet versus other streets in a the same commercial district ofThibodaux. Overlay districts are also sometimes used to createhistoric districts. There are also “floating” overlays which applyto certain site specific conditions the location of which could befound in any district, perhaps a wetland overlay district, whichwould apply to any defined wetlands, despite the zoning districtwithin which the wetland area is found.Pineville uses an overlay district to regulate mobile homes,the Mobile Home Overlay District. In their overlay district“mobile” and “manufactured” home is used interchangeably.The overlay only applies within R-2 Districts. Additionalrequirements include appearance regulations requiring themanufactured home to resemble other residential structureshomes in the district, provision of outdoor storage space and apaved drive strip, and the mobile home must have been manufacturedwithin the past five years (see Section16.07).As can be seen in the accompanying excerpts from the PinevilleR-2 zones, manufactured homes are allowed if they meet theadditional requirements of the overlay zone. Mobile homes thatdon’t comply with the new regulations are treated as nonconforming.Also the mobile or manufactured home that isn’t part ofan approved trailer or mobile home court must obtain an annualpermit. This approach has merit in that it can easily be appliedin other communities without the need to restructure all individualresidential zones. It also treats manufactured homes morelike site-built homes. Nonconforming status does not apply todilapidated mobile homes which have been condemned underthe city’s standard procedures.No reference was found in Pineville’s zoning ordinance to“modular” homes so it wasn’t clear how these were being treated.SCPDC contacted Pineville and spoke to their Code Enforcementand Zoning Officer. He said the overlay district wasadopted in 2004. The Pineville council decided where mobilehomes would be allowed and the overlay district is for these areas.In the Old Town Historic District, mobile homes are restrictedto only one street. Individuals who move a mobile home onto alot not in the overlay area will not be able to hook up to utilities.There are also two mobile home parks within the city. Homesin the parks are not required to follow the rules for homes on asingle lot, but one of the park owners does follow the require-20