Planning commission recommends against rezoning lot for manufactured home use after neighborhood opposition

The Spanish Fort Planning Commission on Monday voted against forwarding a positive recommendation to city council for case 250603, a rezoning request to change a 1.15-acre parcel on Spanish Oaks Drive West from R-2 (medium-density single-family residential) to R-4 (manufactured/mobile home residential).

The motion before the commission was to forward a positive recommendation to city council. The roll-call vote on that motion was six no, zero yes, and the motion failed; the planning commission therefore will forward a negative recommendation to the city council.

The parcelowner and applicant, Blake Bishop, told the commission he bought the subject lot and an adjoining lot in May and said steep topography, a gully and wetland setbacks limit buildable area. "It has only about a 3,500-square-foot development area," Bishop said, adding he intended to build a personal residence and had no plans to rent the property. Bishop described several site constraints that influenced his request for R-4.

Several nearby residents spoke at the public hearing and in a written comment opposing the rezoning. Hendrick Visser said the lot drains into a valley and argued placing a mobile home there would lower neighborhood quality: "There are no mobile homes anywhere in that area. They're all nice homes. There are elderly people around there," he said. Lorena Bastian told commissioners the neighborhood is trending toward stick-built houses and said, "We don't need any more mobile homes." A written comment from John Klein said the rezoning would be "arbitrary and capricious" and could diminish property values; Klein also said he received notice of the hearing by mail on Friday, June 6, for a Monday hearing on June 9 and called that "inadequate notice."

Planning staff (Casey) reviewed zoning categories and explained differences among R-1, R-2, R-3 and R-4, telling the commission that R-4 allows one manufactured home per lot by right and that a mobile-home park would require additional approvals. Staff noted the comprehensive plan identifies the subject property as medium-density residential and that the area contains a mixture of uses and some existing manufactured-home zoning nearby.

Commission discussion referenced earlier rezonings nearby (some in 2017 and 2021) and focused on where a transition between existing manufactured-home areas and stick-built residential areas should occur. Several commissioners said they were sympathetic to neighbors and expressed concern about changing the neighborhoodcharacter. One commissioner also asked staff to review the five-day statutory notice period and consider whether longer notice would sometimes be warranted.

The formal motion before the commission was: "Forward a positive recommendation to the city council regarding case number 250603." Because that motion failed on the roll call, the commission will forward a negative recommendation to city council on the rezoning request.

Next steps: the negative recommendation will be included in the planning commission record transmitted to city council, which will consider the rezoning request at a future council hearing. The applicant may continue to pursue other options, including remaining zoned R-2 and seeking site-specific approvals consistent with current zoning.