The Mississippi Business Journal tells MHProNews that Mayor Brad Rogers and City Attorney James Bobo have devised some new regulations for manufactured home communities and also apartment buildings in Pearl. Critics say their purpose is to eliminate manufactured housing in the town as well as apartments. The city officials say they just have a desire to keep non-conforming land uses from “going on forever.” These new regulations will be brought before the Pearl City Council later at a meeting later in January.
The new proposals seek to limit manufactured home subdivisions, apartment complexes and condominium complexes to six dwelling units per net acre and mandate specific minimum square-footage sizes, lot sizes and sizes for green space and yards.
Not surprisingly, these proposed changes are drawing strong criticism from attorneys for manufactured home communities and apartment complexes as well as from the Homebuilders Association of Mississippi and the Mississippi Manufactured Housing Association. Opponents to the proposed rules say the proposals tread on property rights and violate state and federal constitutional protections. Litigation is certain, they say.
One area of dispute revolves around the fact that the City of Pearl no longer allows manufactured home communities in commercially zoned districts to re-rent spaces after a space is vacated. Jackson’s State Street Group, owners of Pearl’s Grove Acres Park, has sued to overturn the replacement ban.
The newest ordinance, drafted by Bobo on his own initiative, sets a calendar countdown for termination of all non-conforming uses. A chief target: Factory-built homes in longstanding manufactured home communities in districts designated for Agriculture and Industrial use (I-2). Until now, the homes have enjoyed “special exceptions,” allowing them to remain under conditional-use permits.
Just what termination entails is unclear. City Attorney Bobo said termination does not necessarily mean demolition of the structure. “Such an outcome is unlikely,” he said. “Historically, the city works with land owners to bring properties into compliance. Most demolitions would require a court action in which the owner will have an opportunity for judicial review.”
Mayor Brad Rogers, who is in his second 4-year term, is an enthusiastic supporter of the new land-use rules Bobo has proposed. “We don’t want these non-conformities to be expanded or to continue forever,” he added.
Justin Peterson, general counsel for the State Street Group, owner of Grove Acres, an all ages manufactured home community, called the ordinance “just another step in a series of steps the City has made to eliminate rental properties within its borders.” State Street Group is suing Pearl over the City’s refusal to let it replace homes at Grove Acres that have been moved out of the 10-acre park.
Peterson said he is unsure what steps State Street Group will take to counter the newest ordinance that specifies an Oct. 1, 2016 removal of non-conforming uses such as Grove Acres. “We’ll consider what will be the best course of action,” he said. ##
(Photo Credit: Mississippi Business Journal)
Article Submitted by Sandra Lane to – Daily Business News- MHProNews.
