Revisiting Regulations On Mobile Homes And RVs
by Alex Brooks
The Petersburgh Town Board has been holding a series of workshop meetings aimed at revising some of its building regulations. Originally the object of the discussion was to revise the Mobile Home Law because Councilman Tom Berry had identified serious flaws in that law. Berry noted that the mobile home law says that the Codes Enforcement Officer will enforce it, but the CEO law passed a year later does not mention such enforcement as part of the CEO’s duties. He further noted that the Mobile Home law requires site plan review for all mobile home installations, but the site plan review law exempts one and two family dwellings from site plan review. He also said the section on micro-homes refers to state regulation which did not exist when the law was written, although there are apparently micro-home regulations in the recently adopted 2020 State Building Code.
So in addition to the basic goal of making sure that dwelling units erected in the town are safe and healthy domiciles, the revised law seeks to make sure that town laws are in accord with other town laws and with relevant state laws. The two biggest issues raised by the contradictions Berry pointed out are enforcement and the extent of exemptions to the site plan review requirement.
At the first workshop meeting on August 10, Planning Board member Brandon deWaal said enforcement of the Mobile Home Law and of matters under the Planning Board’s purview has been a big issue in Petersburgh. He said people have been bringing trailers or campers into town with no permissions and “no one is doing anything about it.” Those present seemed to agree that enforcement should be the responsibility of the Codes Enforcement Officer, but they didn’t take up the issue of whether this would be an expansion of the duties of the town’s part-time Codes Enforcement Officer, or what additional time or money might be required to make it happen.
DeWaal also stated his personal opinion that any new structure put up in the Town should require a site plan review to make sure that driveways are in compliance with specifications established by the Planning Board, and to make sure it is feasible to locate the structure, the well and septic facilities on the property in compliance with all applicable laws. Currently one and two family dwellings are exempted from site plan review, so reviewing site plans for all new structures would be a significant change. The Board seemed to agree with deWaal, but they have not yet taken up the question of revisions to the Site Plan Review law.
At the August 10 meeting, the Board decided to split the omnibus Mobile Home law into three separate laws, one on mobile and manufactured homes, one on RVs, and one on micro-homes, because each had very different issues. Heinz Noeding volunteered to provide preliminary drafts for each of these three laws. The Board has discussed these drafts at workshop meetings on August 24, August 31, and September 14, and it has scheduled another workshop meeting for Wednesday September 23 at 7 pm.
At the August 31 meeting, the Town Board appointed Martin Conboy chairman of the Planning Board, and the first meeting of the newly reconstituted Planning Board is scheduled for Monday September 28 at 7 pm.