County will eye rules for mobile homes
By Steve Herring
Published in News on December 17, 2012 1:46 PM
Wayne County commissioners will hold a public hearing Tuesday on a request to eliminate age restrictions on mobile homes in the county.
The hearing will get begin at 9:15 a.m. in the commissioners' meeting room on the fourth floor of the county courthouse annex.
An agenda briefing will start at 8 a.m., and will be followed by the regular meeting at 9 a.m.
The Wayne County Mobile Home Parks Association has petitioned the county to eliminate its ban on mobile homes that are 15 years old or older and replace it with current federal Housing and Urban Development standards.
Association members also have suggested that used mobile home be inspected by the county Inspections Department to verify that they meet the current HUD standards.
The county Planning Board has recommended approval of the request.
The current minimum mobile home setup standards were adopted by commissioners in 2006. The standards capped the age at 15 years for the homes that were being moved into the county and the used ones that were being moved within the county.
It stipulated that mobile homes in the county that are more than 15 years old cannot be moved if they had not had electricity in the 90 days prior to the move.
In other business, commissioners will be updated on the county's secondary road construction program. So far, the state Department of Transportation has spent $1,257,241 on a variety of projects, including maintenance work.
The largest expenditure, $419,627, was for the addition of turn lanes on Wayne Memorial Drive at Tommy's Road. Another $9,275 was spent to add turn lanes on Wayne Memorial Drive at Saulston Road. Both of those projects have been completed.
A turn lane also was added on County Day Road at N.C. 111 at a cost of $107,814. Ongoing projects are adding a turn lane on Central Heights Road in front of Eastern Wayne High School at a cost of $40,937 and on Royall Avenue at Sunburst Drive at a cost of $7,678.
The public comment section of the meeting will start at 10 a.m. Commissioners, at their Dec. 4 session, changed the rules for speakers during that part of the meeting. The old rules had limited speakers to three minutes once a month.
The changes approved Dec. 4 increased the time to four minutes and eliminated the once-a-month rule. A person may now speak at any board meeting.
In other business Tuesday commissioners will consider:
* Canceling their Jan. 1 meeting since it falls on a holiday
* Scheduling a one-day retreat during the week of Jan. 14
* A consent agenda that includes setting the tax-listing period in the county for Jan. 2 through Jan. 31.