“Cari Gorman-Salisbury owns a 2-acre lot surrounded by R1L-175 zoning which limits property owners to site-built structures. Mistakenly believing her property, acquired in 2017, provided for manufactured homes, she bought one and had it delivered one day in September to the property located on the west side of Orme Road off Rocking J Lane in the Dewey area,” per the Verde News.
“Within hours after a neighbor complained, the home was removed. Manufactured homes, no matter how large, expensive or well-built they are, are not allowed, based on a change in zoning made in 1998,” said that local media.
Another area publisher – the Daily Courier – said that “Despite the stigma attached…” that “Joseph Roe, project manager for Clayton and Oakwood Homes, supports Gorman-Salisbury’s application.”
The entire report that involves manufactured housing and this Clayton effort to fight a zoning battle will be shown, for industry readers to consider. But the Daily Business News on MHProNews will tee this up noting that this article reveals some troubling trends.
- Clayton lost their argument, 5-to-0.
- They used the ‘new class of homes’ argument, which apparently had no weight with local officials, based upon that 5-0 no vote.
- Clayton’s managers are not reported as making any argument that uses “enhanced preemption.” For regular and careful readers here, a related report linked below makes this recent report timely.
Surprising Discovery on Manufactured Housing’s Enhanced Preemption, Hidden Gem$
With that tee up, let’s show the local media’s featured image, and then dive into their narrative, followed by some commentary and related reports.
“Gorman-Salisbury, seeing other manufactured homes in her neighborhood, had applied for a use permit from Yavapai County but hadn’t heard back when the delivery took place,” said the Verde News, which will be source cited in the quotes that follow, unless otherwise shown.
“At a Dec. 6 Planning and Zoning meeting, she told commissioners that when she bought the property in 2017, the deed hadn’t been updated in 1998 to indicate the current zoning, and the title company and Yavapai County staff also failed to note the change.
Eight nearby residents opposed the applicant’s request, two indicated their support. Those in opposition stated the proximity of a manufactured home would decrease their property values, and some had bought property because of the zoning.
Commissioners and supervisors, when looking at permit requests, consider impact on surrounding properties, impact on traffic, conformance with development standards, maintaining the character of the neighborhood, preservation of safety and welfare in consistency with the comp plan, said Commission Chair Jim Stewart. Items not to be considered were the personality of the applicant, questions concerning technical issues, water availability, financial gain or hardship, viability of a project, or setting precedence.
Commissioner Sandy Griffis said she thought manufactured homes were the wave of the future, and she felt not all were substandard. In fact, five manufactured homes reside on property within the 1,000-foot radius of Gorman-Salisbury’s property, she said.
The P&Z Commission voted 5-2 to recommend denial of the request, with Commissioners Stewart and Griffis opposing.
At the Wednesday, Jan. 2, supervisors’ meeting, Gorman-Salisbury said manufactured homes are becoming more important with today’s crisis in lack of affordable housing. The quality is equivalent and construction safety requirements are the same as for site-built homes, she said.
Of the 34 nearby parcels, she said 15 are vacant, 10 are site-built homes, one has a small garage, and eight are manufactured homes. She also refuted the idea that manufactured homes lower neighbors’ property values.
Joseph Roe, project manager for Clayton and Oakwood Homes, supports Gorman-Salisbury’s application. Despite the stigma attached to manufactured homes, they are subject to countless inspections from federal, state and the county, he said. He asked those opposing the permit to look at the homes and see how well produced and well put together they were.
Board Vice Chair Craig Brown mentioned that 25 to 30 percent of housing permits applications received in the county are for manufactured homes. Supervisor Tom Thurman suggested that the company work with people buying their product to help check zoning prior to making a purchase.
David Roe, general manager of Clayton and Oakwood Homes, said Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac, federal housing finance agency, are in the process of changing banking qualifications for manufactured homes as they recognize the homes are equal in quality to site-built homes.
There are many categories of manufactured homes and the one the applicant bought is of a high level, said Supervisor Rowle Simmons, who disagrees with treating them all as equal, saying, “We cannot use an umbrella here.”
Brown and Board Chair Randy Garrison said the Board of Supervisors probably will be seeing more of these applications in the future. The board voted 5-0 to deny the use permit…”
Some Takeaways?
One must keep in mind a powerful claim that Kevin Clayton made in the video that is posted as part of a ‘read hot’ report, linked below.
Bridging Gap$, Affordable Housing Solution Yields Higher Pay, More Wealth, But Corrupt, Rigged Billionaire’s Moat is Barrier – manufacturedhomelivingnews.com
America woke up today to division. But perhaps 75 percent (+/-) of the nation’s people could come together on a plan that demonstrably could do the following. Increase the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by some $2 Trillion Annually, without new federal spending.
In the report linked above, Kevin Clayton personally said that it would be okay for Clayton Homes to ‘lose money for 5 years,‘ according to Warren Buffett.
Buffett, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway – the parent company to Clayton, 21st and a slew of other firms involved in manufactured housing – told him it was okay, so long as it builds their competitive moat.
These are arguably part of a pattern of tactics, actions, and omissions, that has yielded over time what the Atlantic projected.
The Atlantic correctly projected that ever fewer independents would exist.
Meanwhile, Clayton has grown.
See that report in and analysis of the Atlantic article linked in the related report, further below the bylines, disclosures, and notices.
There are only a few possibilities logically. But given the Clayton claims, don’t they win either way in ‘fighting’ a zoning case like this one or others? They appear to ‘fight’ for the industry, but meanwhile, aren’t they and their allies at MHI consolidating it?
That’s this afternoon’s “News through the lens of manufactured homes, and factory-built housing,” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (News, analysis, and commentary.)
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