Resident urges protection for manufactured‑home parks as commission weighs overlay

Irene Bowie, a Poulsbo resident at Viking Manufactured Home Park, urged commissioners to protect existing manufactured‑home parks as affordable housing, saying, “Manufactured home parks in Poulsbo make up 10% of total housing stock.”

Nicole, a city planning staff member presenting the code package, described a proposed manufactured‑home‑park overlay (chapter 18.115) that would apply to the city’s three existing parks and to any future park by map amendment. Nicole stressed the overlay is a zoning tool intended to restrict allowable uses in the overlay to help preserve the land use type, but “it doesn't prevent the property owners from raising rents,” she said. Staff also proposed lowering the park‑size threshold to 3 acres and other cleanups intended to reflect industry standards.

Commissioners asked clarifying questions about how the overlay would interact with state law and whether it could stop displacement; Nicole said zoning can limit allowable uses but cannot, on its own, prohibit rent increases or private rule changes, and that state statutes and other regulations limit the tools available to cities. Residents asked the commission to move the proposed overlay forward as part of the code amendment package that will accompany the city’s comprehensive‑plan adoption process.