Mount Shasta planning commissioners direct staff to draft detailed tiny-home-on-wheels ordinance

Mount Shasta Planning Commission members spent more than an hour on March 18 discussing possible regulations for tiny homes on wheels and related ‘tiny home village’ developments, directing staff to prepare a full ordinance rather than a narrow amendment to existing RV/mobile-home rules.

Commission staff member Jeff, who led the presentation, said the work responds to two drivers: the city’s newly certified housing element and council direction to explore the housing type. He told commissioners that “in order to be a building code certified, tiny home on wheels, it needs to comply with Appendix Q of the tiny home building code regulations within the California Code of Regulations,” and that Appendix Q imposes standards that distinguish these units from recreational vehicles or conventional mobile homes.

Why it matters: Commissioners said they want a regulatory approach that allows small, lower-cost housing while protecting neighborhood character and public safety. Commissioners repeatedly asked for clear site-development standards — common open space, landscaping, parking, access and fire access — and for staff to tie the ordinance to established objective design standards used for cottage-style…