Sam Williams
News Editor
7/14/2009

    Following a public hearing, the Lassen County’s Board of Supervisors narrowly approved changes to a county ordinance regarding the placement and architectural requirements for manufactured homes in the county.
    Supervisors Jack Hanson, Lloyd Keefer and Bob Pyle voted to approve the changes and supervisors Brian Dahle and Jim Chapman voted no.

    The board approved two changes to the ordinance revising Title 18 of the Lassen County Code. Under the old ordinance, the county would only issue permits to site mobile or manufactured homes that were less than 10 years old. Under the new ordinance, it’s 20 years. Under the old ordinance, the roof pitch in snow areas must be 6/12. Under the new ordinance, the roof pitch may be 4/12 anywhere in the county.    
    According to the new ordinance, the homes also shall not be painted in florescent, luminescent or other extreme colors that would detract from the appearance of the neighboring property, the community as a whole or the natural environment.
    The architectural requirements are only applicable in residential zoning districts and to resident structures within areas designated in the county’s general plan as scenic highway corridors and dwellings allowed by conditional use permits.
    Steve Fuller, a Lassen County building official, made the presentation before the board of supervisors. There was no public comment during the public hearing.
    Dahle asked Fuller if local realtors had been part of the process and agreed with the new ordinance because he didn’t want them coming before the board later with complaints. Fuller said the local realtors were in agreement with the proposal.
    Both Dahle and Chapman expressed their concerns about the changes to the ordinance during the board’s discussion.
    Fuller said trailers constructed after the mid-1970s were better built and much safer, and that was part of the reason for the changes to the ordinance.
    “So if it’s (a manufactured home) 21 years old, you can’t move it?” Dahle asked.
    “Yes,” Fuller answered.
    Dahle then factiously suggested the county should notify those who own older manufactured homes their homes are worthless because they can’t be moved, even if they are upgraded and brought up to current building code standards.
    Chapman also expressed his displeasure with the ordinance and its affect on owners who want to move their manufactured home to another site.
    “This is offensive to me,” Chapman said.
    He suggested the county should add some kind of grandfather clause to the ordinance so local owners could move their homes within the county.
    Fuller acknowledged part of the problem came from people moving old trailers into Lassen County, but he thought a grandfather clause for Lassen County trailers that excluded out-of-county trailers might lead to legal challenges.
    Pyle grumbled the standard used to be 20, but the county changed it to 10, and now “we’re back to 20 again.”
    He also said the board had asked staff to prepare the new ordinance.
    Chapman said in 1989, the county’s ordinance applied to trailers built after 1976.
    Chapman asked Fuller how many manufactured homes in the county would be affected by the ordinance change, and Fuller said thousands.
    “If it’s up to standards you ought to be able to move it,” Dahle said after the vote. “This is not fair.”