Amending of county Manufactured Housing ordinance/Disagreement over intent of SB323

YERINGTON - County and state officials appear to have differing opinions on new standards for manufactured homes in Lyon County.

Approved during the 1999 legislative session and effective Jan. 1, 2000, Senate Bill 323 mandates that local governments allow manufactured homes meeting specific standards be allowed in residential areas.

Among the requirements are the home must be placed on a permanent foundation and not be more than five years old on the date it is affixed to the residential lot.

But Lyon County and the state differ in their interpretations as to which residential zonings will be affected.

Lyon County commissioners have been outspokenly critical of SB 323 and testified against its approval during legislative hearings.

The commissioners will hold a public hearing on proposed amendments to the county's current manufactured housing ordinance at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Courthouse Annex, 31 South Main Street, Yerington.

For information call 577-5037 (Dayton/Silver Springs) or 463-6531.

Lyon County Assistant District Attorney Steve Rye has advised commissioners he believes SB 323 requires that all standards for manufactured homes set forth in the bill also apply to the county's current residential "trailer overlay" zones, making future placement of manufactured homes in these zones subject to the stricter regulations.

State Sen. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, primary sponsor of the bill, disagrees and secured an opinion from the Legislative Counsel Bureau that supports his belief.

"Lyon County is the only county in the state that had zoning in place to make this determination," Amodei said Thursday. "Don't point at this bill and tell someone they can no longer have a 1976 (currently allowed in trailer overlay zones) home, that it must now be now be no more than five years old."

In a written response to Amodei's request for an opinion, the Legislative Counsel Bureau's research concluded the intent of SB 323 is to govern the placement of manufactured homes only in residential zoning districts where they were not allowed before the enactment of the bill.

In a letter to Lyon County Manager Stephen Snyder, Amodei stated "If as I have been told, members of the commission are representing to Lyon County residents that their abolishment of all existing manufactured housing zoning and/or trailer overlay after January 1, 2000, is required by SB 323, such a statement is false."

Amodei also included a copy of legislative history materials regarding SB 323 describing the unlawful practice being engaged in under the zoning ordinances of most Nevada jurisdictions prior to the passage of SB 323.

"The legislation was needed to avoid a federal compliance lawsuit. Perhaps that little repeated or acknowledged fact had some influence on the 60 legislators of all parties and geographic locations that supported its passage," Amodei wrote.