Franklin County weighs limits on age-based mobile-home rejections

Franklin County commissioners were told April 20 that the county cannot reject a mobile home entering the county solely because of its age under the state guidance cited by Planning and Zoning Director Michael Norwood. At a specially called UDC review meeting, Norwood presented the board with a review of possible standards, including HUD-related compliance and an inspection checklist for consideration.

The discussion could shape a consequential part of the county’s land-use review: whether an incoming mobile home may be placed and what its owner must demonstrate beforehand. The question is broader than a home’s model year. Commissioners are weighing how state guidance and possible federal HUD standards should inform the county’s treatment of units brought into Franklin County.

The April 20 review arose within the board’s special called UDC meeting rather than as a recorded final ordinance action. Norwood’s presentation connected the county’s possible local standards to state guidance on age-based rejection and to potential HUD-standard compliance, including a date of June 15, 1976, cited in the discussion. He then put an inspection checklist before commissioners as one possible element of their review.

Norwood, speaking for the county’s Planning and Zoning Department, told commissioners that age alone could not be the basis for turning away a mobile home under the state guidance he described. The commissioners’ role in the meeting was to review the possible standards and checklist. The minutes do not record separate public positions from mobile-home owners, applicants, residents or other groups, so it is not possible to say from this meeting record how those interests view a potential county requirement.

What the board has documented is a staff presentation and review of options: state guidance on age, potential HUD compliance and an inspection checklist. The April 20 minutes do not show commissioners voting, adopting a final standard or putting a checklist into effect. They also do not specify the checklist’s contents or explain how an inspection process would operate, leaving the practical obligations for applicants unknown.

The next public indication of a decision would be a subsequent Board of Commissioners minute or UDC record showing that the county adopted, amended or implemented a mobile-home standard or inspection process. Until then, Franklin County has not publicly settled what standard will govern incoming mobile homes, what paperwork may be required or whether inspections will be required at all.