ATLAS TOWNSHIP- At the township board’s Monday, Jan. 20 meeting, one more condition was added to the mobile home park master plan.
The board adopted an ordinance requiring that, in a newly-built single-family residential dwelling, including mobile homes, a basement must be included.
The Atlas Township Planning Commission initially wanted to require any mobile home park to build a severe weather shelter. That was taken to Lansing, where the Michigan Manufactured Housing Commission, but the request was denied.
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Michigan is divided into four wind zones. Genesee County is located on the border of wind zones III and IV, which experience wind speeds up to 200 miles per hour. Genesee County is in a high-risk wind zone area and shelter is preferred.
Genesee County Emergency Management says Genesee County is more prone to tornadoes than any other county in the state of Michigan.
Although the township has amended the zoning ordinance to include a classification for mobile home park, they have not declared a geographical area on the zoning map. Rather, officials adopted criteria by which a mobile home park proposal would be evaluated if and when proposed.
When a site is chosen, the draft is transferred to the hands of the site plan review committee and must be in accordance with standards of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
Township Clerk Tere Onica, said, “Since 1978, all single family homes have to be built with basements. In our area, and with the study that FEMA showed us, this has to go for mobile home parks too.”
The two-year struggle to amend the master plan in a way that works both for the township and the state has been a task to conquer. While many would like to ban mobile homes outright, the state and the courts have mandated that they be allowed.
Planning commission Vice Chairman Rick Misek said, “This is a new ordinance that needed to be adopted. The state mandates all kinds of requirements for buildings, vehicles and houses. Smoke alarms, seat belts, air bags, we could go on forever. There is no reason why this wouldn’t hold up in court.”
After revisions and multiple public hearings, the up-to-date criteria for mobile home zoning include:

w Access to two public roads, one of which is a major thoroughfare.
w Close proximity to an existing public sewer and community facilities.
w Substantial and effective preexisting buffering from any land that’s compatible to adjoining land uses.
w Sites such as wetlands, toxic dumps and tracts substantially located in non-buildable sites are excluded from consideration.
w The plan cannot be changed in the future, to avoid spot zoning.
w In any single-family residential dwelling, including mobile homes, the foundation must be constructed with a basement.