Chapter 18.50
MANUFACTURED HOME PARKS
Sections:
18.50.050 Site and lot requirements.
18.50.080 Manufactured home pad.
18.50.090 Perimeter buffer/screening fence and ground cover.
18.50.120 Storage, accessory structures and manufactured home setup.
18.50.150 Miscellaneous provisions.
18.50.010 Purpose.
The purpose of this chapter is to establish minimum standards for the construction, development, and management of manufactured home parks. These standards are intended to ensure the public health, safety, and welfare, as well as encourage innovative and imaginative manufactured home parks that will provide desirable, economical housing opportunities for local residents. It is a goal of this section to ensure that manufactured home parks are designed and developed in such a manner that they can be considered an asset to the city. [Ord. 675 § 1, 1980.]
18.50.020 Definitions.
All definitions relevant to this chapter shall be included in Chapter 21.90 LMC. Unless specifically defined, words or phrases used shall be interpreted so as to give them the meaning they have in common usage and to give this chapter its most reasonable application. [Ord. 1544 § 1 (Att. A), 2017; Ord. 1057 § 2, 1997; Ord. 675 § 1, 1980.]
18.50.030 Required plans.
A. Submission of Plans. All conditional use applications for manufactured home parks shall be accompanied by a minimum of three scale drawings of not less than 100 feet to the inch and a landscape and screening plan.
B. Adequate Plans. The city shall reserve the right to refuse to examine any incomplete, unintelligible or indefinite drawings.
C. Information Required on Plans.
1. The required scale drawings shall include the location of all buildings; manufactured home spaces; water, electric, and sewage lines; community trash containers; fire hydrants; roadways, entrances, and exits; proposed drainage; lighting; signs; boundary of the site; perimeter buffer, recreation and open space; and any proposed public dedications. At the discretion of the administrative official, this drawing may also require topographic contours with an interval of not more than five feet.
2. A landscape and screening plan shall include the name, location and size of vegetation and the location, type, and height of the screening fence. [Ord. 675 § 1, 1980.]
18.50.040 Location.
A. Any parcel of property being considered for a manufactured home park must front on and have direct access to a developed public road at a minimum of one location. The administrative official may require more than one direct access to a public road where it is determined to be in the best interest of the community.
B. Manufactured home parks may be permitted in residentially zoned areas only, subject to approval of a manufactured home park conditional use permit.
C. Manufactured home parks shall not be located in any area which the planning commission finds to be unsuitable for residential development due to flooding, poor drainage, steep slopes, unstable soils or geology, or other features likely to be harmful to the safety or general health of its occupants. [Ord. 675 § 1, 1980.]
18.50.050 Site and lot requirements.
A. Size of Manufactured Home Park. The minimum size of a manufactured home park shall be two acres.
B. Size of Manufactured Home Lots. The minimum size of a manufactured home lot shall be 4,500 square feet for any manufactured home over 14 feet wide and 3,500 square feet for manufactured homes 14 feet wide or less. The minimum width of a manufactured home lot shall be 50 feet for the former and 40 feet for the latter size manufactured home. The lot boundaries shall be plainly marked by corner stakes.
C. Spacing Standards.
1. There shall be a minimum of 15 feet between manufactured homes. Attached accessory structures shall be regarded as part of the manufactured home for setback and spacing purposes.
2. There shall be a minimum distance of three feet between a manufactured home and an unattached accessory structure.
D. Setbacks for Manufactured Homes.
1. There shall be a minimum distance of 15 feet between an individual manufactured home and an adjoining interior park street.
2. No manufactured home shall be located closer than 25 feet from a public road right-of-way.
3. There shall be a minimum distance of five feet between a manufactured home and a manufactured home side lot line; except, one side yard may be reduced to zero feet if a minimum separation of at least 15 feet is maintained between adjacent manufactured homes.
4. There shall be a minimum distance of 10 feet between a manufactured home and the interior line of the perimeter buffer.
E. Lot Coverage. There shall be no more than 50 percent of a manufactured home lot covered by structures. [Ord. 675 § 1, 1980.]
18.50.060 Garbage and trash.
A. The storage, collection and disposal of refuse in the manufactured home park shall be conducted so as to prevent health hazards, rodent harborage, insect breeding areas, accidental fire hazards, and air pollution.
B. Community-type containers will be required to be located not more than 150 feet away from any manufactured home lot. These collection areas shall be screened by landscaping and/or a view-obscuring fence. [Ord. 675 § 1, 1980.]
18.50.070 Off-street parking.
A. A minimum of two off-street parking spaces shall be provided at each manufactured home lot. These spaces shall be at least five feet from the park street. Parking spaces shall not be located within the 10-foot buffer zone required around the perimeter of the manufactured home park.
B. An additional minimum of two off-street parking spaces shall be provided for the manufactured home park office.
C. All residential and common parking areas require bituminous surfacing or better. [Ord. 675 § 1, 1980.]
18.50.080 Manufactured home pad.
Each manufactured home lot shall be provided with a pad of sufficient size to accommodate the manufactured home and any attached accessory structure. Each manufactured home pad shall be surfaced with a minimum of three inches of washed gravel of uniform size or other surface approved by the administrative official. The manufactured home pad shall be graded to obtain adequate surface drainage. [Ord. 675 § 1, 1980.]
18.50.090 Perimeter buffer/screening fence and ground cover.
A. Buffer Required. A minimum 10-foot landscaped buffer or screen shall be required around the sides and rear of the park. The front yard buffer shall be a minimum of 20 feet, within which shall be erected an ornamental wall, fence, or screen planting, acceptable to the administrative official, and no less than five feet in height around the perimeter of the manufactured home park. If screen plantings are to be used, the plants should be of sufficient size so as to provide immediate screening benefit. If, in the opinion of the planning commission, it is unreasonable to require this screening along the side and rear boundaries due to the nature of the existing topography or other conditions that might render such screening ineffective, the commission, at its discretion, may waive or modify the requirements as specified in this section. A permanent irrigation system shall be installed to ensure adequate maintenance of the landscaping in these areas.
B. Ground Cover Required. Lawn or other suitable ground cover shall be required in all areas except those covered by structures, by paved or surfaced areas and by planting beds. Also accepted are undisturbed areas such as ravines and streams to be preserved in their natural state. [Ord. 675 § 1, 1980.]
18.50.100 Recreational areas.
A. Not less than 500 square feet per manufactured home site shall be provided for recreational space; provided, however, that no outdoor recreation areas shall contain less than 2,500 square feet.
B. In lieu of providing recreational areas, recreational opportunities such as clubhouses, swimming pools, handball courts, etc., may be considered by the planning commission.
C. Required buffer/screening areas shall not constitute required open space or recreational area. [Ord. 675 § 1, 1980.]
18.50.110 Signs.
A. Signs and advertising devices shall be prohibited in a manufactured home park except:
1. One identifying sign at the entrance of the manufactured home park which may be indirectly lighted but shall be nonflashing and which shall not exceed 32 square feet in area;
2. Directional or information signs for the convenience of tenants and the public relative to parking, office, traffic movement, etc., provided such signs are not larger than four square feet in area.
B. A sign within the buffer or setback area along a public or private road shall be no more than six feet in height.
C. The design and placement of the identifying sign shall be subject to the review and approval of the Leavenworth design review board.
D. Individual manufactured homes shall display neat, easily read address numbers to facilitate the location of specific manufactured homes within the park. These numbers shall be consistently located either on the units or posted on the space. [Ord. 675 § 1, 1980.]
18.50.120 Storage, accessory structures and manufactured home setup.
A. A secured community storage area shall be developed to provide a minimum storage space of nine feet by 30 feet for each six manufactured home lots, or fraction thereof, for the storage of boats, RV units, etc.
B. Normal accessory structures for manufactured homes shall be allowed and may include awnings, carports, deck and storage facilities, etc. All accessory structures shall comply with manufactured home park front yard setbacks and local building code requirements.
C. All manufactured homes shall be equipped with steps or ramps for all exits which meet the International Building Code requirements.
D. All manufactured homes shall be skirted with fire-resistant and weather-resistant material deemed appropriate by the administrative official, which shall be properly maintained.
E. Manufactured home tongues shall be removed or disguised. [Ord. 675 § 1, 1980.]
18.50.130 Street system.
A. The interior road system for a manufactured home park shall be privately owned, constructed and maintained; provided, that roads which are located such that they could or should be an integral part of the overall circulation pattern may be required to be constructed as public roads. The administrative official may also require either construction of additional public roads or reservation of right-of-way for future roads where necessary to provide adequate circulation.
B. Road construction standards shall be as follows:
1. The layout and general development plan for major and minor access driveways within the manufactured home park, together with the location and dimension of access junctions with public street right-of-way shall be approved by the administrative official. All interior streets shall remain private and be the responsibility of the park operator.
2. All interior streets shall have a minimum width of 30 feet with parking permitted on one side only. On-street parking shall be restricted during the winter so that adequate and safe access can be maintained when plowed snow accumulates at the side of the street.
3. Roads designed to have one end permanently closed or in the form of a cul-de-sac shall be provided at the closed end with a turnaround having a minimum right-of-way radius of not less than 45 feet or with a “T” permitting comparable ease of turning.
4. All public roads in a manufactured home park shall be constructed in accordance with minimum standards for plat street construction.
5. All roads, parking lots and walkways shall be adequately lighted at night. Lights shall be directed away from adjacent properties. Spacing of light standards on roadways shall be not greater than 100 feet and/or at each major change in direction of a roadway.
C. All park streets and access roads shall be on an adequate base, graded, and surfaced with bituminous surfacing or better as defined in the state highway specifications.
D. All manufactured home park proposals shall be reviewed by the fire chief to assure adequate ingress and egress, internal circulation for emergency vehicles, and the location of fire hydrants. [Ord. 675 § 1, 1980.]
18.50.140 Utilities.
A. All manufactured home parks shall install city services, to include domestic water, sanitary sewage, refuse disposal, fire hydrants and storm drainage systems. These services shall be installed in accordance with guidelines established by the city utility superintendent.
B. All utilities within the manufactured home park shall be installed underground. [Ord. 675 § 1, 1980.]
18.50.150 Miscellaneous provisions.
A. It shall be the responsibility of the park owner and manager to assure that the provisions of this chapter are observed and maintained. Violations shall subject both the owner and the manager of the facility to any penalties provided for such violation. The owner or a designated agent shall be available and responsible for the direct management of the manufactured home park.
B. All electrical connections shall comply with the electrical codes and shall be subject to inspection. All sewage connections to manufactured homes shall conform to the Uniform Plumbing Code.
C. Portable fire extinguishers of appropriate class rating as determined by the fire chief shall be kept in service buildings and other locations as required by local codes.
D. The park shall be maintained free of any brush, leaves and weeds which might communicate fires between manufactured homes and other improvements. No combustible materials shall be stored in, around or under any manufactured home.
E. It is noted that the Snow Load Analysis for Washington by the State Association of Structural Engineers prescribes a 72 pounds per square inch snow loading factor for the Leavenworth area. Manufactured homes are excluded from regulation under the International Building Code by state law, and by subject to H.U.D. standards, which only require a roof loading factor of 30 pounds per square inch. Manufactured home park owners shall adopt and administer covenants and standards relating to snow loading. Such covenants could include all or some of the following provisions:
1. Permitting only manufactured homes with composition roofs or special design packages intended for heavy snow load areas;
2. Requiring installation of heat tapes on manufactured home roofs;
3. Requiring the clearing of roofs when snow depths exceed 12 inches;
4. Develop and administer a policy relating to the construction of snow shed roofs on individual manufactured home lots. If permitted by the park, such structures would have to comply with the International Building Code. Also the park should adopt standards to assure that such structures complement rather than detract from the appearance of the park;
5. Presenting a statement of all tenants informing them of the snow load factors for the area, and the roof loading standards of manufactured homes, which would be signed by the tenant, thereby relieving the city and the park owner of liability for snow load damage to roof structures. [Ord. 675 § 1, 1980.]