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Worth Packer's request for a three-unit apartment building at the corner of East Fort Wayne and North McKinley streets was approved by the Warsaw Board of Zoning Appeals Monday.
Packer's request is a special exception for a multi-family unit in a commercial zone.
Each one-story apartment shares a common wall and will have an attached one-car garage.
Board member Rick Keevan asked about manufactured home standards in June.
Warsaw City Planner Jeremy Skinner provided local and state ordinances Monday. He said the state regulates and certifies manufactured houses and they meet the minimum housing standards.
"In general, I feel some manufactured homes are not raising the value of other homes in an area, but lowering it. This has come up a number of times over the years."
He said a manufactured house by McKinley Park recently was remodeled, gutted and basically rebuilt. It didn't seem to be as sound as other homes in the neighborhood.
Skinner said because the state sets standards, to disallow the units would be setting the city up for a possible lawsuit.
"They probably don't use 30-year guarantee siding, but they meet the state's building codes," Skinner said. He didn't know when the state last reviewed standards for manufactured housing.
The board also discussed use of the word "shall" in the special exception portion of the Warsaw zoning ordinance. The sentence indicates the BZA shall grant special exceptions.
Board member Alan Clingan asked that the language read that special exceptions shall be heard and may be granted.
Skinner said he and city attorney Mike Valentine have worked on the sentence.
BZA members are Alan Clingan, Dan Hampton, Tom Heuer, Rick Keeven and Bruce Woodward.
Heuer and Woodward were absent.
