Council allows zoning for modulars

Published 12:08 pm Wednesday, March 28, 2018


Robyn Fowler

Members of the Kenbridge Town Council voted to adjust a current ordinance to allow zoning for modular homes, following a public hearing during the council’s March 20 meeting. Modular homes, according to the new ordinance designated as Section 5.5, “are built in sections at a factory, and the sections are transported to the building site on carriers, and then joined together by licensed contractors. They are built to conform to all state, local or regional building codes.” Modular homes differ from mobile and manufactured homes, which are defined “as a structure subject to federal regulation, which is transportable in one or more sections; is eight bodyfeet or more in width and forty body feet or more in length in the traveling mode, or is 320 or more square feet when erected on site; is built on a permanent chassis; is designed to be used as a single-family dwelling, with or without a permanent foundation, when connected to the required utilities; and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, and electrical systems contained in the structure.” Mobile and manufactured homes are not permitted in the town’s zoning districts under the new ordinance. Wanda Morrison, of Kenbridge, asked about the current ordinance for modular homes and what the proposed changes to the ordinance would be. Town Manager Robyn Fowler and Town Mayor Emory Hodges said the current ordinance does not permit modular homes to be constructed in residential zoning areas. The proposed ordinance would allow the homes to be constructed under any residential zoning throughout the town. “The current one has no manufactured or modular homes permitted in the zoning districts, there are certain districts where no modular homes are allowed,” Fowler said. “We’re trying to change it to where modulars are allowed in the zoning (areas) in the town.” “We had somebody that wanted to put up a modular home, and the way our current zoning reads, there’s no mobile homes, manufactured homes or modular homes permitted,” Town Mayor Emory Hodges said. “We felt like we were probably too exclusive with the current zoning we had with modular homes.” Council Member Ken Blackburn proposed a change to the new ordinance to specify that the modular homes would need a permanent perimeter foundation with ma