Board gives nod to RVs, Countryside
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, September 8, 1999
If a Board of Zoning Appeals’ recommendation is followed Thursday by the City Council, pipeline workers will have a home at Countryside Hills Mobile Home Park.
Wednesday, September 08, 1999
If a Board of Zoning Appeals’ recommendation is followed Thursday by the City Council, pipeline workers will have a home at Countryside Hills Mobile Home Park.
That’s because the board recommended to the council Tuesday that the addition of the workers’ RV-type homes won’t increase the nonconforming zoning status of the Albert Lea mobile home park, which is considered nonconforming because it lacks zoning buffers, a storm shelter and has commercial uses on site.
Board members said they don’t believe allowing RVs would worsen the park’s condition, so it would not make the park more noncomforming.
The board was directed to consider the question of whether RVs would increase its nonconformity by the planning commission because the city can’t intentionally allow a nonconforming land use expansion.
&uot;It doesn’t expand the nonconformity,&uot; board member Derald Morfitt said after he seconded a motion by Wallace Winegar to allow RVs at the park.
The council will now consider the recommendation at a special meeting Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in the council’s chamber room at City Hall. If approved, the recommendation will forever allow the addition of RV parking at Countryside.
It will also give workers constructing a natural gas pipeline through the county a place to legally park their RVs, or trailer homes, in the city. Pipeline families were first told by the council that they couldn’t park their RVs at the park because a city ordinance prohibits RV parking at manufactured home parks. But the ordinance doesn’t apply to the park because it’s considered nonconforming.
&uot;Nonconforming is why this is such a hot issue,&uot; said Doug Johnson, city building inspector. &uot;By allowing you to live there, are we going to make it more nonconforming?&uot;
That difference between the ordinance and the nonconforming status seemed to confuse many people who attended the appeals board meeting Tuesday; about 25 people were at the meeting.
The only action the council could take was to consider whether the RVs would increase the nonconformity. But many people representing the pipeline families defended their homes and the parks. Permanent Countryside residents also used the opportunity to criticize park owners about rules and the current condition of the park.
&uot;These are not recreational vehicles,&uot; said Betty Spires, an Alabama resident now staying at the park. &uot;These are our permanent homes. I don’t feel like we’re degrading any of our neighbors. This is one of the first parks that we’ve stayed at that I can say me and my husband can lay down at night and not hear any noise.&uot;
&uot;I live at Countryside and I was told my camper is an RV and it can’t be there,&uot; added Barb Lens, who parks her RV in the driveway leading to her mobile home. &uot;If my camper was called an RV … just like the ones that are out there, then I don’t think it’s fair that I have to move it.&uot;
Yet, Countryside doesn’t allow parking of RVs in driveways because that makes it difficult for emergency vehicles to reach homes; the pipeline workers have rented lots for their RVs.
But before the board’s recommendation to allow the RVs, Johnson reminded people at the meeting of the board’s purpose and suggested that some issues be addressed to the park owners.
While the RV issue isn’t yet solved – the council meets Thursday – pipeline families said they were grateful of the board’s recommendation.
&uot;We were just honest to them,&uot; said Shirley Romo. Adding of the nonconforming issue. &uot;We were pawns in something that’s been going on for years.&uot;