Sumner council adopts manufactured-home park overlay to protect three mobile-home communities

Sumner City Council on Oct. 20 adopted Ordinance 2936, a zoning code amendment creating a manufactured-home park overlay zone covering three mobile-home parks in the city’s northeast quadrant. The council approved the ordinance by a 6-1 vote after staff described requirements for relocation planning and administrative compliance reviews.

The overlay is meant to preserve roughly 260 mobile-home sites in Sumner by making the sites eligible to remain as mobile-home parks and by adding procedures owners must follow if they seek to redevelop or close a park. "The ordinance before you tonight would amend our zoning code to adopt a mobile home park overlay zone," said Ryan Windisch, community economic development director, during the presentation to council.

The ordinance applies to three parks identified in staff materials: Crystal Springs, AA (referred to in staff materials as "AA"), and Somerville Estates. Rainier Manor, where individual lots are already owned by residents, is not included. Under the new rules, an owner who seeks to redevelop a designated park must either demonstrate the property’s continued viability as a park or convince a hearing examiner that it has "lost all beneficial use" and thus requires another use. If a park closure or sale would displace tenants, owners must prepare a relocation report and plan; the director must review compliance and grant a certificate of compliance before certain…