No more mobile home parks

CLEARFIELD -- Though officials say mobile homes do not fit the vision of development in the city, existing mobile home parks will be allowed to stay.

The city has a zone that allows for mobile home parks, but recent title changes mean this zone has been eliminated and no more mobile home parks can be developed.

As part of this discussion, officials were also considering whether to change the zoning of existing mobile home parks.

When officials were looking at zoning and taking a new look at the future and growth of Clearfield, questions arose about whether there should be zoning for new mobile home parks, said Community Development Director Adam Lenhard.

The consensus was "no," he said.

"We have sites for that which are already developed. It was decided that the preferred direction was to have more traditional types of construction."

Right now, the city has four mobile home parks.

"If you don't have the zone anymore, you have to change the zoning," said City Manager Chris Hillman. "Needless to say, this created quite a stir."

When the issue was discussed at planning commission meetings, the chambers filled and people overflowed into the outside areas.

Lenhard said there was a lot of public comment from residents who did not want the zoning changed. Also, the landowners of four of the five mobile home park properties did not express interest in changing the zoning.

"They felt it should be left the way it was," he said.

Even if the zones were changed, Hillman said it would not affect current use.

As long as the use continues, he said, those sites could remain a mobile home park forever, but residents were still concerned about changing zoning.

"They were concerned about being kicked out of their homes. They wanted the zoning as a security blanket."

The city council opted to follow the planning commission recommendation of changing the zoning of the Clearfield Mobile Home Park, 442 S. State St., to C-2 commercial, which is consistent with the general plan.

That property can legally continue to be used as a mobile home park, as it is grandfathered in, but the owner could also opt to redevelop it commercially if desired.

Lenhard said this park is different from the others. At this park, he said, residents do not own the trailer or the land; they just rent. In other parks, residents own the trailer and lease the land.

He said the property owner wanted the zoning change.

So while that park was changed, the zoning for other mobile home parks was kept intact. If current or future property owners want to change that, they must petition the city for a zoning change.