No Permit Needed for a Non-Conforming (Grandfathered) Park? Odd.

[Jeffrey H.]

Hi Everyone,

I have been working the diligence on a smaller park in a town of about 40K people.  The park is grandfathered based on zoning and conversations with the City.  They told me as a result that the park does not need a permit so long as the homes that come in on the empty pads are permitted accordingly (e.g. setback, tiedowns, etc).

I will get this "no permit needed" claim in writing via an ordinance or declaration of some kind from the city, it just seems very uncommon.  Has anyone else seen this or had experience with a city?  Anything worth mentioning?

Thanks.

[Frank Rolfe]

We own over 170 mobile home parks, and we run into this all the time. Here is what you need to do:

1) Get a Certificate of Zoning from the city. That will bind them on how many lots you are allowed to have and if your park is 1) Legal conforming 2) Legal non-conforming (grandfathered) or 3) Illegal.

2) Get a list of any known park violations from the inspector.

3) Learn the case law in your state regarding grandfathered uses from your state mobile home assocation (MHA).

4) Talk to the city about the fact that you are going to move HUD code homes (1976 and newer) and make sure that they demonstrate complete understanding of this and will not stop you in any way.

5) If you don't hear that, hire a municipal lawyer to call the city attorney and get it worked out.

Don't allow yourself to be "bullied" by city hall. The property rights under "grandfathering" are very powerful and no city can violate them. We challenge cities on our rights several times a year, and have never lost a case in 20 years -- in fact, we've never had to go to court because the city always backs down when confronted with the law and the punitive damages that can result by violating our rights.