MurerietaPatch reports the Murrieta City Council is set to vote Tuesday on amending its regulations for manufactured and pre-HUD Code mobile homes. “The City now desires to limit the age of a manufactured or mobile home…to promote and ensure the aesthetic quality of neighborhoods, to minimize the devaluation of communities due to upkeep and repair, and to maintain safe building standards for occupancy of manufactured homes,” states the amended development code. If ratified, permits will not be granted for manufactured homes if greater than 10 years has passed between the date of manufacture and the date of permit application for installation. No members of the public spoke during a hearing held July 27 when city staff took the matter to the Planning Commission, which voted 5-0 to recommend the change. No members of the public spoke during the City Council’s initial review of the change on Aug. 16. If approved, the amended ordinance takes effect in 30 days and applies to new permit requests. It will not apply to legally permitted manufactured homes converting from a pier foundation to a permanent foundation. The California Legislature prohibited exclusion of manufactured homes on single-family properties in 1980. California law allows municipalities to apply the 10-years or newer standard.
(Editor’s note: This is the type of zoning issue that bears scrutiny under the enhanced pre-emption provided by the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 (MHIA 2000) is supposed to prevent. Contact MHARR in Washington, DC for details on the MHIA 2000).
