Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Mobile homes face further restrictions if the proposed zoning regulations receive approval.
Wednesday, Kosciusko County Plan Commission Director Dan Richard and assistant planner Matt Sandy presented the initial drafts of the new regulations to the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission for their review. No action was taken Wednesday. The new regulations must be discussed and approved by the plan commission at a future meeting and then approved by the county commissioners before they take effect.
Under the proposed regulations, mobile homes not within an approved or nonconforming mobile home park or seasonal mobile home park would be permitted only through a special exception hearing before the Kosciusko County Board of Zoning Appeals.
In environmental or agricultural II districts, only a single unit temporary hardship mobile home is permitted as an exception. In agricultural or commercial districts, seasonal mobile home parks are permitted if an exception is granted, as is a single unit temporary hardship mobile home.
Originally, the proposed new regulations allowed a seasonal mobile home park or single unit temporary hardship mobile home in a residential district as exceptions, but board members Charlie Haffner and Vic Virgil suggested the seasonal mobile home park exception be taken out.
The proposed regulations also would allow the initial placement of the mobile home for a period of no longer than three years unless the BZA deems a different time period necessary.
In reviewing the request for a special exception for the placement of a mobile home, the board will consider the age of the manufactured home, the general condition, the size, size of the lot or property, the character of the surrounding area, the existance of remonstrators and the conditions precipitating the hardship.
Richard said the plan commission doesn't have a definition of temporary hardship - it's been at the board's discretion.
