With the intention of preventing loss of life and property that sometimes occurs in pre-1976 homes, the Planning Board of Butte-Silver Bow County, Montana, is considering limiting additional placement of pre-1976 “mobile homes” in the county, saying they don’t conform to safety standards.
The Montana Standard tells MHProNews that on Tuesday, January 27, a community meeting was held at the Star Lanes Bowling Alley, one of four planned over the next week to inform residents of current ordinances and get public input.
“This is really to get public feedback on how people feel about it,” said Assistant Planning Director Lori Casey.
Some negative response has been offered, as expected. Annette LeProwse, a single mother who works two jobs to get by, says she might not be able to afford a newer model if something happens to the 1967 mobile home she lives in now.
“It’s not like I’m trying to fight for these old trailers, but for some of us, that’s all we have,” LeProwse told county officials during a public forum to discuss possible changes to Butte’s “mobile home” ordinances.
Nobody would be forced to leave or move their older “mobile homes” if Butte-Silver Bow enacts new zoning restrictions on how old additional ones can be and where they can go, officials said Tuesday. What some city officials want to do is to prohibit any additional “mobile homes” manufactured before 1976, or maybe even before 1994, from being located within any zoned areas of Silver Bow County.
The federal government required manufactured homes built after June 1976 to meet various construction and safety standards. Many homes manufactured before that date had aluminum wiring, which can be a fire hazard, and caustic materials such as asbestos, among other problems. Federal standards were updated again in 1994 to include new protections against wind damage.
“When these older homes burn, they go fast, and they are hard to heat,” Senior Planner Steve Hess said of pre-1976 homes.
The county has different classifications for factory-built homes. Those constructed after 1976 that are double-wide, have permanent, code-approved foundations, and meet other criteria are allowed in any residential zone.
Additional homes built before 1976 are only permitted in R-4 or R-4S “mobile home” zones. Those zones include some large areas of southwestern Butte and its urban outskirts.
Community Enrichment Director Ed Randall said the county had identified several “mobile homes” that are in sub-standard living condition and terribly inefficient.
“Some people are spending a couple of hundred dollars a month to rent them and spending $400 to $500 in the winter to heat them,” he said.
Darin McCloskey, who owns the Big Sky Trailer Ranch on Butte’s south side, said people who have updated their homes to 1976 or 1994 standards should face no new restrictions, even if the homes were built before those years.
“There are a lot of people who have spent a lot of money bringing them up to standards,” he said.
County officials reiterated that any existing “mobile homes” would be “grandfathered in” and unaffected by ordinance changes.
But LeProwse wondered what would happen if she lost her 1967 mobile home for whatever reason. She might not be able to afford or finance a newer model replacement.
“I understand the safety arguments, but not having a home at all outweighs the safety issues for me,” she said.
Planning staff could formalize recommendations and present them to the Planning Board next month. A public hearing would be held before the board takes action, and commissioners would have to conduct their own hearing and approve any changes. ##
(Photo Credit: KXLF)
