DATE: STAFF:
July 28, 2020
Ryan Mounce, City Planner
WORK SESSION ITEM
City Council
SUBJECT FOR DISCUSSION
Manufactured Housing Rezoning Update.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The purpose of this item is to review and discuss issues relating to the potential rezoning of properties to the forthcoming Manufactured Housing (M-H) zone district, including the influence of existing land use policy and a possible extension of the manufactured housing redevelopment moratorium.
GENERAL DIRECTION SOUGHT AND SPECIFIC QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED
1. Should properties designated as commercial in City Plan or neighborhood plans be considered for rezoning to the new manufactured housing district?
2. What are Councilmember’s views on extending the manufactured housing redevelopment moratorium? BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION
Both City Plan and the Strategic Plan identify policies and objectives to preserve manufactured housing and enhance the equitable treatment of manufactured housing residents. Council has also identified manufactured housing preservation and residents’ rights as a priority, and in August 2019, a 12-month moratorium was adopted limiting the City’s acceptance of any development application which would result in the loss of units within mobile home parks while additional preservation tools and residents’ rights strategies are explored.
Since the adoption of the moratorium, staff has been finalizing new preservation tools and resident rights protections. These efforts include Land Use Code updates to create a new Manufactured Housing (M-H) zone district and changes to the Municipal Code to clarify and enhance residents’ rights related to retaliation protections, tree maintenance, utility billing practices, and more. If the forthcoming Land Use Code changes are adopted, existing manufactured housing communities will be eligible to be considered for rezoning to the new zone district. Staff is seeking additional direction relating to which manufactured housing communities should be considered for rezoning based on guidance provided by the City’s comprehensive plan and relevant subarea plans.
Manufactured Housing Zone District - Rezoning Criteria
Staff previously discussed the design of the new manufactured housing zone district with Council at a work session on April 28, 2020. (Attachment 1) Staff shared that the new zone district would create a new preservation tool for manufactured housing communities and reduce the likelihood of park closure due to redevelopment. This is achieved primarily by limiting the types and intensity of certain land uses available to properties within the zone district. While the new M-H zone district creates a new preservation tool, the preservation goals of the district would only come into effect once properties are rezoned.
If the forthcoming M-H zone district is adopted by Council, the City may initiate and consider rezoning properties containing manufactured housing communities to the new district. At the April 28, 2020 work session, staff described several evaluation criteria used in the 2013 Affordable Housing Redevelopment Displacement Strategy report on potential manufactured housing communities to include in a new manufactured housing zone district. The report included criteria such as the size of a community, the percentage of owner-occupied units and whether
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a property was previously included in the City’s former mobile home park zone districts. Some criteria may be less relevant when compared to the overarching goals for manufactured housing preservation and most properties containing manufactured housing communities should be considered for rezoning.
An additional set of evaluation criteria staff wishes to highlight is the land use direction and guidance provided by the City’s land use policy documents, including City Plan and relevant neighborhood and subarea plans. The City’s Land Use Code requires quasi-judicial rezonings to be consistent with the comprehensive plan and/or warranted by changed conditions within the neighborhood surrounding the subject property.
Existing Land Use Guidance for Manufactured Housing Communities
City Plan provides land use guidance through a combination of policies related to the community’s growth framework and broad illustrations of development patterns for different types and intensities of land uses on the Structure Plan map. In addition, the City has adopted several neighborhood and subarea plans as elements of City Plan, which provide more specific land use guidance for neighborhoods and corridors within the community.
Most manufactured housing communities in the City are zoned residentially and designated on the Structure Plan or within relevant subarea plans for low and medium intensity residential development. A potential rezoning to the new M-H district for these properties aligns with their existing land use and intensity designations and would also promote the comprehensive plan’s growth framework and housing policies for the general location of residential development and to preserve a type of housing underrepresented in the community’s overall housing stock. Several manufactured housing communities are instead designated for commercial/mixed-use development on the Structure Plan map and in relevant subarea plans. In general, these designations provide long-term guidance for development patterns of greater intensity and variety than what is proposed as part of the M-H zone district. The preservation goals of the M-H district may also conflict with some of the policies and goals found in these plans which identify commercial areas for infill and intensification opportunities, promote land consolidation and redevelopment along certain corridors to support infrastructure and transportation improvements, or to support a broader mix of land uses and services.
Rezoning Options
Based on current land use guidance in City Plan and relevant subarea plans, rezoning of properties containing manufactured housing communities with residential designations could be considered. These properties represent approximately 88% of all manufactured housing units in the community and their designations in the comprehensive plan and subarea plans are consistent with the design and intent of the new M-H district. For commercially designated properties, a rezoning to the M-H district is not consistent with the current guidance provided by City Plan or neighborhood plans and there existing zoning would likely remain in place.
If Council desires to consider rezoning the commercially designated properties to the M-H district, staff could initiate a process to review and amend the comprehensive plan and relevant subarea plans. Such a review would investigate the possibility of changing land use designations and/or neighborhood-specific policy goals based on additional stakeholder input and updated neighborhood conditions since the original adoption of these plans.
Updates to City Plan or a neighborhood plan require a recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Board and Council adoption of an ordinance. The timeline to conduct additional stakeholder engagement and evaluate what may be competing policy priorities is likely to take a minimum of several months and could significantly lengthen the overall process to rezone properties to the new M-H district. This timeline would further push the rezoning process beyond the expiration of the manufactured housing redevelopment moratorium, currently scheduled to end on August 30, 2020.
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strategies. Following the implementation of the moratorium, staff began researching options and best practices and presented initial findings to Council at a work session in December 2019.
Council provided guidance for staff to pursue a new manufactured housing zone district and staff originally targeted implementation of the district and consideration of property rezonings in late spring 2020. Development of the new zone district standards and initial outreach activities took place in January and February, however, beginning in March, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted opportunities to meet with stakeholders, including input from boards and commissions, which had begun to cancel their monthly meetings. At a work session update on April 28, 2020 staff shared the timeline for the new zone district and rezoning process had become highly uncertain due to disruptions caused by the pandemic.
With the resumption of board and commission meetings in early summer and new procedures in place for virtual engagement activities, staff recommenced outreach efforts and is initiating the Land Use Code adoption process to create the new M-H district. Upon adoption of the Land Use Code changes, staff is also prepared to begin a City-initiated process to consider applying the new M-H district to properties through rezoning. The following meetings/hearings are required to implement the new zone district and complete the rezoning process:
Adopt Land Use Code Changes creating the M-H zone district • Planning and Zoning Board: recommendation to Council • Council First Reading
• Council Second Reading
(Potential) Update City Plan and Subarea Plans and review alignment for commercial property rezonings • Planning and Zoning Board recommendation
• Council First Reading • Council Second Reading
Rezoning of properties to M-H zone district
• Approval of Council exemption request to allow for quasi-judicial rezoning proceedings to occur using remote hearings
• 14-day written notice to property owners prior to P&Z meeting • Planning and Zoning Board recommendation
• 15-day newspaper notice prior to Council • Council First Reading
• Council Second Reading
These events must occur largely in a linear fashion. Each step should be completed before the next can begin. Staff anticipates the minimum time to fully complete the process to create the new M-H district and consider property rezonings is approximately two and a half months. This timeline would be extended further if City Plan and subarea plans need to be amended to consider rezoning commercial properties. Based on this schedule, the final portions of the rezoning process will occur after the manufactured housing redevelopment moratorium expires on August 30, 2020.
While staff is not aware of any imminent plans by property owners for redevelopment of a manufactured housing community, the expiration of the moratorium before the rezoning process is completed creates a risk that a property owner could submit a redevelopment proposal under current zoning and absent the preservation goals of the new M-H district.
Council could consider an extension to the moratorium to allow the overall rezoning process to complete fully within the redevelopment protections afforded by the moratorium. An Ordinance extending the moratorium would require two readings before Council and staff would bring its consideration forward in August prior to the current expiration on August 30. If Council wishes to consider an extension, staff recommends it be of limited duration, sufficient only to enable the timely completion of the rezoning process.
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Council may also consider allowing the moratorium to expire as currently planned on August 30, 2020. The risk of a redevelopment application being submitted in the first several weeks after moratorium expiration is partially mitigated by required development review process procedures. Before a formal submittal is made and accepted by the City, a property owner must first complete a conceptual review meeting, likely followed by a neighborhood meeting. Neighborhood meetings require a 14-day notification period and are followed by a 10-day waiting period before a development application may be submitted. These pre-application steps are likely to result in a minimum of one-month advance notice before a formal application is submitted.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Work Session Summary (PDF) 2. Powerpoint Presentation (PDF)
281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 970.221.6376
970.224.6134 - fax
Planning, Development & Transportation
MEMORANDUM
DATE:
May 1, 2020
TO:
Mayor Troxell and City Councilmembers
THRU:
Darin Atteberry, City Manager
Jeff Mihelich, Deputy City Manager
Caryn Champine, Director of Planning, Development & Transportation
Tom Leeson, Community Development & Neighborhood Services Director
FROM:
JC Ward, Senior City Planner
Ryan Mounce, City Planner
RE:
April 28, 2020 Work Session Summary – Manufactured Housing Zoning &
Residents’ Rights Update
At the April 28
thCity Council Virtual Work Session, Ryan Mounce and JC Ward provided an
update on work underway to develop a new manufactured housing zone district and information
about recently completed and forthcoming residents’ rights and livability strategies, including the
potential for a manufactured housing licensing system. All councilmembers were present for the
discussion via video conferencing.
The new manufactured housing zone district and additional resident rights and livability strategies
are intended to advance Council priorities to preserve manufactured housing, prevent resident
displacement, and improve livability and protections available to residents in manufactured
housing communities.
General discussion and direction from the work session included:
Manufactured Housing Zone District & Rezoning Criteria
Continuing to develop and bring forward Land Use Code changes to implement a new
manufactured housing zone district as a preservation strategy.
General support for ‘Option A’ for the types of permitted uses that should be included in
the new zone district. Discussion reaffirmed the focus of the zone district to specifically
preserve manufactured housing and minimize resident displacement, which could remain
a partial outcome under ‘Option B.’
Some types of permitted land uses, such as extra occupancy rental houses and primary
short term rentals, may not be appropriate in the zone district or create new business
models that result in resident displacement.
Review and refine the types of criteria staff may use to recommend sites for inclusion in
the new zone district. Criteria such as infrastructure condition could be punishing to
residents in certain communities who would otherwise not benefit from the goals of the
new zone district.
DocuSign Envelope ID: 6C830CF7-EE75-4AA1-9E24-A3E61C7607E5
