Planning commission approves text fix, urges aldermen to remove mobile-home parks as conditional use in agricultural zoning

Warrenton City’s Planning and Zoning Commission voted Nov. 6 to approve a narrow text amendment to Appendix A of Chapter 405 that restores the phrase "manufactured and/or mobile home park" in the household-living use category and forwarded a separate recommendation to the Board of Aldermen asking that manufactured/mobile-home parks be removed as a conditional use in agricultural (AG) zoning.

The amendment itself was described by staff as a simple reversion to earlier code language after a prior transcription error. Planning staff asked that the published notice, the city comprehensive plan and the planning-and-zoning officer’s report be made part of the hearing record before summarizing the change.

Commissioners debated the policy implication of allowing mobile-home parks in AG zones. Commissioner Frederick said mobile-home parks are typically higher-density residential developments and do not fit the city’s concept of country living for AG-designated parcels; he moved that the commission approve the text correction but recommend that the Board of Aldermen remove conditional use authority for manufactured/mobile-home parks from AG zoning and retain it in R-3 (high-density residential). Commissioner Cornell seconded the motion.

The motion passed 7–1, with Commissioner Tibbets recorded as voting no. The commission’s action is a recommendation; any change to the municipal code must be adopted by the Board of Aldermen. Staff noted the change was limited to restoring the previous wording and that the commission’s separate recommendation would be transmitted to aldermen for their consideration.

What happens next: the commission will forward its report and recommendation to the Board of Aldermen, which will review, hold its own hearing if required, and decide whether to adopt the recommended zoning change.