Mobile home standards to be heard
By Barbara Arntsen
Published in News on April 18, 2005 1:47 PM
Wayne County residents will get a chance to offer their opinions on a proposed mobile home standards ordinance Tuesday during a public hearing.
The hearing is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. in the commissioner's meeting room on the fourth floor of the Wayne County Courthouse.
In December, the Wayne County Planning Board recommended that mobile homes built before 1976 be prohibited from moving into the county's rural areas.
The planning board also called for minimum appearance standards for manufactured homes. The standards deal with siding, skirting, windows and doors. These would apply to both new and existing housing.
The board has asked that no mobile home that was manufactured before June 15, 1976, be allowed to relocate into the county's unincorporated areas, which is the land outside town or city limits. The ban would apply both to homes moving from other counties and those that are in inside Wayne County's municipalities.
The Planning Board picked the 1976 date because that is when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development established a building code for manufactured housing. Homes that met the code bear a HUD label.
The proposed manufactured housing rules are based on those passed in Johnston and Harnett counties.
The recommendations are as follows:
*Exterior siding must be either painted or stained wood such as board and batten or board-on-board, Masonite, simulated stucco, residential grade metal, or vinyl lap siding. All siding must be in good condition, complete, not damaged or loose. Exterior paint must be in good condition.
*All repairs to siding must be consistent with the design of the home. For example, if siding is repaired, the new materials must be close to color and texture to the original siding.
*Homes must have a brick curtain wall, ABS plastic color skirting with interlocking edges (keylocked), or PVC painted metal skirting installed around the perimeter of the home.
*All windows and doors must be intact and in working condition.
*Permanent steps meeting the state's building codes shall be installed.