Blanding reviews manufactured home community rules as residents object to 22-unit plan

Residents who live near a proposed manufactured home community told the Blanding City Council on Sept. 22 that they oppose it, according to minutes in the council's Oct. 13 meeting packet. The proposed Pioneer Estates would have 22 rental manufactured homes on a 1.6-acre lot at 1200 South and 100 East. Four speakers cited a lack of common space and outdoor storage, property values, traffic congestion and safety, noise and crime, and stormwater drainage. ^[1]

Some asked the council to enforce the code strictly, protect backyard access easements, guarantee visitor parking and consider requiring a bond to ensure the developer keeps its promises. City Manager Pratt Redd said the proposal had not yet been submitted for staff review and was scheduled for an Oct. 13 work session. ^[1]

At the work session, council members said they had understood that fencing would surround all four sides of a manufactured home community. Community Development staff member Ben Muhlestein confirmed that the current code requires fencing only along adjoining properties. The minutes say the code also has no density limit. ^[2]

The option of a moratorium on pending applications was presented. According to the minutes, Muhlestein said an applicant who filed under the existing code must be reviewed under it, so new requirements could not legally be applied to an application already submitted. The minutes note that staff can informally tell prospective applicants that code changes are under way. ^[2]

Staff and council members confirmed that each lot would have its own water, gas and electric meters, with impact fees paid under a new landlord utility rate structure. Redd said the development could add up to 44 vehicles. He said enforcing street parking and keeping public roads open is the job of city staff and police, and that higher density tends to bring more police calls regardless of neighborhood safety. The council also discussed a requirement that a home be 50 percent complete before occupancy, and whether the code requires permanent foundations. ^[2]

Muhlestein told the council in his monthly report that the Planning Commission approved two manufactured housing applications last month, which he called a good test of the city's new code. The council's Oct. 27 agenda lists a discussion of the manufactured home community code with the Planning Commission and an update on a landlord guarantor code. ^[2]