Planning commission approves reduced rear-yard setback for mobile home at Riverdale Park lot 204

Riverdale City Planning Commission voted Feb. 25 to authorize a reduction to the rear-yard setback for a mobile home to be placed at 5100 South 1050 West, Lot 204, allowing the unit to sit 9 feet 4 inches and 8 feet 6 inches from the park boundary instead of the code-required 15 feet.

The permit request, submitted by Vance Strunk Construction, covers placement of a 16-by-66 mobile home inside Riverdale Park, a mobile-home community regulated under the RMH1 zone. City planning staff presented a site plan showing a 10-foot separation to an adjacent home on one side, a 6-foot distance to an awning on the other side, a 14-foot-6-inch front setback and a 10-foot setback along the roadway. Planning staff noted the property line abutting the golf course at the rear is angled.

“Yard space between the end of a mobile home and the boundary line is 15 feet minimum,” city staff told the commission, summarizing the code. Staff said the code permits the planning commission to authorize a reduced corner setback “not less than 5 feet” when park-space shape makes locating the home nearer the boundary desirable. Staff recommended the reduced rear setback so the unit would be pushed toward the property line rather than closer to the roadway, which staff said could create winter driving and headlight concerns if the unit were located forward.

Commissioners asked whether similar requests could be approved administratively for other lots; staff said any future reductions would require separate requests to the commission and that this approval applies only to Lot 204. Commissioners also probed whether other existing spaces already fall short of the 15-foot standard; staff said some older units do not meet the current setback but that each lot’s circumstances would be considered individually.

A motion to authorize the reduction was made and seconded, and the commission approved it by roll call: “Yes” votes recorded from Mister Nolan, Mister Herman, Mister Boethorpe, Mister Nye, Mister Anderson and Mister Paulson. The commission secretary announced, “The motion passes.”

The approval allows the contractor to set the unit permanently and pursue a certificate of occupancy under the adjusted setbacks; staff said the minimum permitted by code remains 5 feet and the commission may not authorize less than that.

Clarifying details recorded in the meeting include the unit dimensions (16 by 66), the adjacent clearances (10-foot side-to-side and a 6-foot awning clearance), front and roadway setbacks shown on the site plan (14 feet 6 inches and 10 feet), and the code baseline (15-foot rear-yard requirement with a 5-foot minimum allowable reduction). The approval was limited to Lot 204; staff said subsequent requests for other lots would require separate commission action.

The commission did not take any additional code amendments in connection with this approval; staff noted that any broader change to the RMH1 code would require a different process.