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City board narrows appeal from Legacy Properties, allows occupancy permits for existing manufactured homes
Summary
After a lengthy hearing, the City of Pacific Planning & Zoning Board denied a bid to declare an entire mobile-home park a single nonconforming use but voted to permit applications for occupancy on existing manufactured homes that meet standards and were in place before mid-1977; the ruling covers addresses including 41 and 44 Lake Circle Drive.
The City of Pacific Planning & Zoning Board on June 25 considered an appeal from Stephen (Steven) Stumpy of Legacy Properties LLC challenging a city staff decision that had denied certain occupancy permits for homes in a manufactured-home park. After testimony and legal argument, the board rejected a broader motion to treat the entire 10-acre property as a single nonconforming use but approved a narrower motion allowing owners of existing manufactured homes that meet occupancy standards and predate mid-1977 to seek occupancy permits.
The decision matters because it limits permit eligibility to existing, occupied units that can pass inspection rather than declaring all pads on the site eligible as nonconforming lots. Applicant testimony said Legacy Properties purchased the park in 2015 and that some pads had been used continuously since before the 1996 ordinance; Stumpy told the board, “We received our first denial for occupancy…followed by another denial in July 2019,” citing the city’s enforcement actions as the basis for the appeal.
Board members and attorneys focused on how Pacific’s municipal code defines nonconforming manufactured-home “lots” and whether nonconforming status “runs with the property” or applies to individual pads. City code-enforcement staff and the city’s attorney described how sections 400.24 and 400.27 address legal nonconforming lots, abandonment, and allowable repairs or replacements (including limited floodplain exceptions after the 2008 flood). Counsel for the applicant introduced deeds and historical records to show long-term pad use; the board repeatedly requested additional documentation that had not been provided sufficiently in advance.
After debate, the board first rejected a motion to treat the entire property as a single nonconforming use (the motion did not carry). Members then refined the language and passed a motion that permits owners of existing manufactured homes built before June 15, 1977, to apply for occupancy inspections and permits if the units meet current occupancy standards. The board explicitly limited the motion to existing homes, not to filling vacant pads with new units.
The motion, as adopted, also included specific addresses raised during the hearing — including 41 and 44 Lake Circle Drive — as examples of lots for which the applicant sought occupancy eligibility. Board members noted that approvals remain contingent on each unit passing the city’s inspections for building, electrical and plumbing code compliance; several members emphasized that a passed occupancy inspection, not the board’s ruling alone, is required before a unit may be reoccupied.
Several board members criticized the late delivery of city documents and evidence to the packet; the board said the lack of materials hindered preparation for the hearing and urged staff to provide records earlier in future cases. The board closed the public hearing after making its rulings and adjourned.
What’s next: The decision narrows the applicant’s path to restoring occupancy: Legacy Properties may apply for occupancy inspections for existing units that meet the specified cutoff and pass code inspections. The record indicates the applicant may appeal further if the city’s administrative processes do not resolve the disputed permits.
