City approves easing mobile home rules

Apr. 22—The Crossville City Council took the first step toward changing its mobile home ordinances during its April meeting.

Mayor James Mayberry said he had spoken with one potential developer interested in taking on an existing mobile home park. However, the city's ordinance would require all mobile homes in a park to meet current HUD standards — no older than 2016.

"The ordinances that we have in reference to mobile homes and mobile home parks within the city are restrictive per what it would cost," Mayberry told the council.

The city also limits mobile homes placed on private lots in the city to be no more than 10 years old.

"That makes the homes very expensive," Mayberry said. "Housing and Urban Development is in charge of the construction of mobile homes. They are special — anything that can be thrown on a frame and sent down the interstate is different than a stick-built home and there are different requirements versus a standard stick-built home or a manufactured home."

The council also discussed previously the emergence of small rental homes, about 576-936 square feet, that are becoming more prevalent.

"There's been a lot of discussion about going over all the section in our ordinances," Mayberry said. "I think it needs to be a little more in depth to look at some of the rental properties with the small houses that are overloaded on properties."

But Mayberry didn't want to wait on addressing the age of mobile homes for a full review of the sections.

"We put together groups to do studies on things sometimes, and it appears a lot of those groups and the studies tend to take years before anything gets done on it," he said.

"To get some things moving now" Mayberry moved to change the city's ordinances so that mobile home parks had to meet HUD standards, removing the word "current." He also moved to change the restrictions on mobile homes placed on private lots to no more than 20 years old.

"All mobile homes built since 1976 are HUD-certified," Mayberry said.

Councilman Rob Harrison supported the motion.

"I think it's reasonable," he said.

Councilman Scot Shanks asked, "One could be eight years old and not in good shape at all. I want to make sure we're putting something in where the trailer park is still going to be under restrictions to be in good shape."

Mayberry said there are property and maintenance codes to address those standards. There is also a provision for a period of time to refurbish mobile homes, though that would be part of the review of the ordinances, he said.

"There are four mobile home parks in Crossville, and this would be fair to all," Mayberry said.

The motion was unanimously approved. The ordinance changes will require two more readings before taking effect.

City Manager Greg Wood was tasked with creating a committee to review the rest of the ordinances.

The council also approved the first reading of an ordinance that prohibits the city water department from shutting off service to a customer who is not behind on their water bill.

Wood said federal rules not allowing for evictions due to financial hardship had resulted in no eviction cases being heard.

"We've had landlords find creative ways to evict people," he told the council.

There had been cases of a landlord taking over the water service for a rental unit and then turned off service.

"That put us between a rock and a hard place," Wood said. "It would be good to have a policy that we can go to so that we don't get stuck in the middle of a landlord-tenant dispute."

Wood said the ordinance was similar to language found in Tennessee Code Annotated, but that law only applied to certain counties.

"So we don't have a state statute to fall back on," Wood said.

The ordinance was approved on first reading.

The city will see a reduction in the amount it must contribute to the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System next year. Currently, the city pays 15.9% of employee salaries toward the fund that provides a retirement benefits for workers. That will change July 1 to 10.61%.

Finance Director Fred Houston recommended the city budget 13% to avoid a shortfall, which the council approved.

In other action, the council approved the following items:

—Crosslin Certified Public Accountants of Nashville to provide auditing services for the next three fiscal years

—Annexation of 32.57 acres at 3710 Lantana Rd. The request was approved by the city's planning commission, provided the developer upgrade a sewer line from a three-inch line to a four-inch line. If the property is subdivided, the developer would be responsible for extension of sewer collection lines as part of developing the subdivision

—Beer permit for Hwy. 55, a restaurant under construction at 2193 N. Main St. and Abuela's Cuban Café, which has relocated to the Crossville Outlet Center at 228 Interstate Dr.

—Solicitation permit for the Fairfield Glade Lions Club to conduct its White Cane Project fundraiser, pending notification of dates

—Reappointment of Karen Cole and Joe Salvato to the Industrial Development Board and appointment of Kevin Hembree to the board, with terms to expire April 30, 2027

Heather Mullinix is editor of the Crossville Chronicle. She covers schools and education in Cumberland County. She may be reached at hmullinix@crossville-chronicle.com.