Zoning Requirements

[L Jane]

We (my 83 y/o mother and I) are looking to replace her very old doublewide mobile home (see Horton Home topic). What we are running into in our county is that apparently the County Commisioners decided to arbitrarily disallow ALL grandfather clauses. I need to bring everyone up to speed here. We first moved into our present home over 15 years ago. Over a period of time we decided we would like to replace the present structure with a newer mobile home. At that time the County said the only thing we could do was to replace it with a DCA home (which of course drove the price up). And the only reason why we could even do that was because there was an existing mobile home on the property as mobile homes were not allowed in the county unless it was a DCA home. At that time we could not afford to go that route so opted to just stay in what we had. (Singlewides were banned and we were not interested anyway.) Recently (I'd have to say around 3 or 4 years ago) they "lifted" that requirement and allowed doublewide mobile homes to be put on private property. Now that we are in the process of seriously looking for a new home we find that the county has arbitrarily dumped all grandfather clauses. How does this affect us? Yes, we may still put a mobile home on our property and it does not have to be a DCA home. However, we DO have to add a two-car garage (attached). With the minium required interior measurements being 14' x 18' I will have to agree with the lady at the county code office. . .what two vehicles can you park in that??? So now we are back at square one. Has anyone on this list ever run up against anything like this anywhere else? Perhaps the problem is we are located on a well-travelled, and developing, 4-lane highway and the County has eyes for other uses? Thanks for your time.

[Terry]

Your story should alert everybody to the fact that if you think you own your own land - if you think we still have private property rights in this country - we don't. This is YOUR land and yet the county dictators are making decisions about what kind of house you can or can't live in. I hope you - and the manufactured housing industry - fight these petty little parasites tooth and nail. I'd damned sure let the commissioners know that they can be voted OUT of office for their arrogance. Come on, Jane. This is still America (sort of). You ought to be raising hell!

[r murray]

Zoning is a problem in many parts of the country..Actually most county commissioners look at the situation as a tax question...They want folks to have much more expensive housing and pay more taxes...If they cannot afford it...they want your grand mother to live in federally subsidised housing...Still getting more local taxes...although it comes from the federal government instead of you...

Actually you seem to be in a very progressive county...in that they went from an outright ban to allowing nicely equiped manufactured homes...The garage you speak of would be about $10,000,,,,Not too bad...

Do they require this same 2 car garage on ALL new construction??I hope so..

All readers should learn to watch their local government and their land use rule changes...These are all done in the public but very few folks pay much attention until they get caught up in a problem on their own land...

Buy the way...Horton used to offer a manufactured home with a garage built right in it...It was a 2 car about the size you mention...I wonder if it would pass the muster...If they would still build it....I do not know if they would or not..

[Terry]

Yes, these land use changes are all done in public, but who has time to attend all these meetings? Where I live (Fulton County, GA), the meetings might start at 7:30 p.m. and go on as late as 3:00 a.m.!!!! Even if they end at an earlier hour, the fact is - most people hold down jobs during the day and are taking care of their families at night. there's very little spare time to spend in attendance at these very boring meetings just to play "watchdog" for your property rights. What you say is correct --- people need to take more of an interest - but the fundamental issue is this - Either the land is yours or it is not. If it IS yours, then the county parasites have no right to dictate types of housing. The fact that they CAN and DO wield such power over your life decisions proves that you do NOT really own your own land even though you pay the taxes on it. There's something BAD wrong here. Why do we put up with it?

[rmurray]

I bet if there was a project to put a nuclear waste dump in your neighborhood..you would make those meeting...and would not be a happy camper...you..as I ..would oppose the right of that land owner to use thier land anyway they want...

Land use regulations are are necessary...especially in large urban locations like yours..The devil is in the details...

I agree that land use meeting are terrible...but...we all should be involved in neighborhood home owner groups..that monitor this and keep everyone aware of the pending issues....then the monitor process could be a shared responibility of all the members..Maybe you ought to start a group in your area..

By the way...In GA...zoning law changes are published many weeks before the planning meeting...then the planning council sends a recommendation to the county commission or city council...They must publish changes in land use ordinances at least 4 weeks in advance..You see the process is slow and has more than 1 place to stop it..Most of this stuff is published on the internet...

[Dan O'Flaherty]

The posts are correct, the government only reflects what the people want if people get involved. Most area's post issues that are to be considered at meetings in the local newspaper prior to the meetings. You need to keep on top of these issues, it's your home, property and life.
By the way, I may have missed somthing but regrading the first message in this string, what is a DCA house?

[L Jane]

I appreciate all the responses, so far, on my original post. It is absolutely correct to say that the people within any given county is responsible to keep on top of things. I do read the paper but apparently not as thoroughly as I thought. The County Commission we presently have is a far cry from the preceeding Commission. That Commission eventually wound up on Atlanta TV news programs because of the inability of its members to get along. The voters finally got rid of most of the members who seemed to be causing the problem. I will address the tax base issue. So, Walton County presently has three (yes, you read that right - 3) power generating plants located right around Monroe. They are contemplating a fourth plant to be located just above us - around Gratis. An article in a very recent edition of the Walton Tribune brought up the fact that the County Commissioners are actually considering exempting these power generating plants from paying taxes. So. . .where does that leave the homeowners? It's difficult to see where the county is helping the homeowners in this proposition. People are beginning to attend the meetings, and I shall begin myself. As I mentioned above, I do read the paper pretty thoroughly but will now have to make sure I find the meeting notices. As far as zoning changes? I do not remember seeing anything posted anywhere changing our zoning from Agriculture to Developing Agriculture. I'm not arguing that the county should not have rules and regulations, they are essential up to a point. To answer another question as to whether they require two-car garages on other new construction, the answer (according to the lady behind the counter) is yes. If that were not the case the county would leave themselves wide open. The excuse used when I asked why they decided to require a two-car garage after not having done so once they reopened the county to doublewides, was that folks were "abusing" the codes. Oh? So where exactly are the inspectors? I truly wish I had known they were shutting the county down again because you can rest assured I would have been to the meetings. As it is I did find out that the Georgia Manufactured Housing Association, various mobile home sales (outside the county - Walton County has one lot located within its lines.) and homeowners attended the meeting. So it is not like no one was fighting it. And the ruling stood. End of story. To answer the question "What is a DCA home." I cannot remember what the DCA stands for, but all it is is a doublewide mobile home built on a wood frame instead of a steel frame. It has to be brought onto the property on a flatbed and craned into place. I believe they are also called "modular" homes? That is the only difference they required. You could order the very same floor plan but it could not be on a steel frame. Reason? Yes, we asked. . .because that way the house could not be moved overnight. Our "argument" was brushed off. There may be a myriad of reasons why this is happening but I cannot say because I do not know for a fact what they are. I just find it unfortunate it is happening. We'll do whatever we have to to replace the house. It is 27 years old, not a namebrand, nowhere near "code" and the termites have just about had their fill. We'll replace it, we just do not know with what. Thank you for your input. I did not post my original message to start a forest fire, or to bash the county. I'm interested in learning whether anyone else has run into a problem similar to this and how they handled it. Thanks everyone! L Jane

[Terry]

Mr Murray, there's a big difference between prohibiting a nuclear waste dump which is a threat to life and health, and the prohibition of a certain kind of housing that is not to the dictators' liking. One is an endangerment issue, while the other is purely aesthetic. (apples and oranges) To reiterate - if the property owner is not free to buy and live in the kind of housing he/she desires, then he/she really does NOT own that property. And the two-car garage rule is utterly absurd! What if you have only one car? Or no car? Or what if you just don't want a garage? Bottom line --- it's all about money - TAX money, that is!!!!

[rmurray]

Actually zoning and land use planning is a evolving process...It started in New York City..years ago to contol the living conditions of the poor...

It evolved into an economic contol tool over time...The theory is to push property values ever higher...This satisfied the land owners...but made the regulators happy too because they got more tax revenues with out raising the rates...To some people...how ever wrong they are...a manufactured home (trailer, mobile home) in their neighborhood is just as financially devastating as that waste dump...If you have ever attended land use meetings you would know almost all comments from the public concern financial concerns....

The really scary thing is the newest university educated planners espouse regulations that amount to nothing more than social engineering...They have no fear of complete government control of the publics life style...They use fancy sounding terms like "Urban Sprawl"..when justifing new and ever more land use rules...The whole theory now is to force folks into central cities and keep them out of the more rural area.(hence the 5 or 10 acre lot size requirments that are so popular)..They get regulator approval because the central government can provide services much more cheaply...therefore they have more money to spend on wasteful items.(they say they do this to keep from raising taxs...keeps the general voter in line until they run into the land use laws personally like the original poster)..

Big business is always for more of this type of regulation...The more rules...the higher developement costs...The less small developer competition...The higher the prices...the more profit for them...Who pays....YOU, I and the original posters grandmother..

A good example of that is the manufactured home park regulations...When I started in the business in FL...a small developer could take 1 acre and put 13 homes in a park setting..Rent was very cheap...parks were not too nice...but folks had the choice to live there and keep the costs down...Most of these were in very rural areas..

Now in FL...the smallest park is 10 acres...w/8 units per acre....the required permits, studies, approvals, attorneys fees, impact fees and other developement costs make a park less than 40 or 50 acres nearly impossible...Only the biggest companies can do this...Rents have escalated and made manufactured home parks very expensive...Poor folks do not live in these parks...Where do they live....in government subsidised housing...Again making the planners very happy..

The general public must pay much more attention to land use issues....If not...property ownership freedom will be gone....

[rmurray]

DCA...is the Department of Community Affairs in FL...This is the agency resposible for modular homes in FL....They have a cooroperative agreement with the modular homes agency in GA and can deliver modulars to GA...Some manufacturers in FL (esspecially Homes Of Merit) call thier modulars "DCA homes"...hence the term that the poster used..Other parts of the country often use the term BOCA which is an anacronism for the building code that some modualrs are built to..