Planning staff outlines pathways to allow RVs, tiny homes and ADUs; recommends short‑term text amendments and longer‑term zoning review

Planning Director Bruce Lani briefed the commission on March 11 about options for allowing recreational vehicles (RVs), tiny homes, accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and manufactured homes as part of a broader housing‑options discussion.

Lani explained current code treats RVs as motorized temporary dwellings and allows RV parks only in limited zoning categories (commercial outdoor recreation by right; other zones with special‑use approval; some zones prohibit them). He said RVs are presently treated as vehicles for parking enforcement and are not inspected to building‑code standards for long‑term habitation. Tiny homes and ADUs represent different legal categories — tiny homes are structures often placed on foundations and inspected as buildings, while some small modular or manufactured units fall under different inspections and roster rules.

Staff proposed short‑term text amendments that would: (1) revise the RV definition to include non‑motorized tow‑behind units, (2) allow RV occupancy in existing permitted and code‑compliant manufactured‑home park lots (with appropriate documentation and site inspections), and (3) treat legal, compliant mobile‑home parks as potential locations for RV placement if the site meets infrastructure and safety standards. Lani provided a map of existing manufactured‑home park locations as potential sites.

For mid‑term work, staff proposed aligning any broader changes — ADU rules, tiny‑home allowances, missing‑middle zoning and parking/lot‑size minimums — with the county’s future land‑use map and a planned missing‑middle text amendment. Staff stressed those topics affect RS single‑family zones and warrant careful public engagement. For longer‑term options, staff noted jurisdictions elsewhere have crafted inspection/maintenance regimes to allow RVs as long‑term housing but that model requires new inspection authorities, assigned maintenance responsibility and additional administrative costs.

Commissioners asked for clear timelines and for staff to prepare draft text amendments that would enable the short‑term changes and return to the commission. Lani said staff would prepare draft text amendments and coordinate them with the future land‑use map work and the missing‑middle review.