Manufactured home variance denied
Published 12:22 am Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Dawn Burleigh/The Orange Leader Giancarlo Cardenas speaks at the West Orange City Council meeting Monday evening with the request for a mobile home variance ordinance.
Courtesy photo A view of the lot denied a variance and how it looks now.
Courtesy photo A view of the lot in question when a manufactured home was present on the property.
By Dawn Burleigh
The Orange Leader
WEST ORANGE — A 53 by 76 lot in West Orange will continue to remain bare after the council denied a manufactured home variance for a lot located on Koutze Road.
Giancarlo Cardenas spoke before the council asking for a variance for ordinance 302-D.
According to the ordinance:
Areas where HUD Code Manufactured Homes are permitted are as follows:
(A) Specific areas where a HUD Code Manufactured Home may be located when outside of a HUD Code Manufactured Home Park are detailed as follows (see map of Exhibit 302-D Exhibit A, attached):
- From Katherine Street on MacArthur Drive east along the north border of the city limits of West Orange to Adams Bayou, provided that a HUD Code Manufactured home may not be placed within 500 feet from MacArthur Drive.
- Continuing south along Adams Bayou until the South side of Smith Street nearest Adams Bayou;
- Continuing west along the south side of Smith Street until the west side of Flint Street (including both sides of Flint Street);
- Continuing north along the west side of Flint Street, crossing Western Avenue until Austin Avenue;
- Continuing west along the south side of Austin Avenue, until the west side of Holly Lane;
- Continuing north along the west side of Holly Lane (to include both sides of Holly Lane) until the Union Pacific Railroad tracks (at South Avenue);
- Continuing west along the Union Pacific Railroad tracks (at South Avenue) until Linda Street;
- Continuing north along the west side of Linda Street (including both sides) as a straight line until reaching MacArthur Drive, which is at the point of beginning.
Kountze Road is to the west of the approved area.
“The property is too small to build a house,” Giancarlo Cardenas said. “There is a manufactured home next door to the lot.”
Cardenas added he did not believe everyone would want a variance if the council approved one for him.
“At the last meeting, there was concerned if it was granted, everyone will want a variance,” Cardenas said. “I think it should be a case by case basis.”
The location he seeks the ordinance for is not on a major road within the city, he also added.
“It will just sit there if I don’t take ownership,” Cardenas said. “I will keep the land clean and livable.”
Council member Mike Shugart said, “And dress up the property.”
While Cardenas presented written consent from neighbors on the street, he added he had express value in the lot because he has family living next door.
Mayor Roy McDonald asked if the home to be put on the property was acceptable per ordinance for manufactured homes.
While it meets the ordinance for a manufactured home, it was rejected because of the ordinance 302-D denying manufactured homes in that area of the city.
“The ordinance will not allow it there,” Code Enforcer Dean Fuller said. “He can have a modular home or a stick built home there, no question. Modular homes are more expensive, like two-three times more than a manufactured home.”
Cardenas said the price was one reason for seeking a manufactured home, the other was the size of the lot.
While a motion was made to approve the variance, it died due to the lack of a second.
The property, when it did house a manufactured home was valued at $19,874 according to the Orange County Appraisal District. Without the mobile unit, it is currently valued at $2,449.
Mayor McDonald suggested Cardenas speak with Fuller to find something in accordance with the ordinance.
