Residents outraged by several new county zoning ordinances
Approximately 300 people crowded into the main upstairs courtroom at the Tate County Courthouse on Monday, April 18, to voice their displeasure to the Board of Supervisors regarding modifications to its Comprehensive Plan which officially went into effect Friday, April 22.
New zoning ordinances within the Comprehensive Plan focus on consolidating the unincorporated parts of Tate County to more defined areas in nine different categories: Agricultural (A-1); Agricultural Residential (AR-1); Rural Residential (R-1); Low-Medium Density Residential (R-2); Community Commercial (C-C); General Commercial (C-1); Industrial (M-1); Flood Preservation (FR); and Planned Development (PD).
Several Tate County residents, specifically an incorpated group calling itself “Our Land, Our Right”, is upset about certain restrictions placed on manufactured housing and mobile homes particularly in AR-1. The ordinance states manufactured homes are not allowed in areas zoned AR-1 however, manufactured homes already established in AR-1 designated areas are allowed to stay until property ownership changes. The new zoning ordinance also prohibits property owners from moving new manufactured homes on their property unless certain conditions are met and a variance in code is granted by the Tate County Planning Commission. It also places several other constraints on manufactured housing.
“Our Land, Our Right” presented a petition to Supervisors with over 8,000 signatures from Tate Countians opposed to the new regulations. Several members of the group were given two minutes each to speak out against the revised ordinances.
“This is pushing people to the poverty line and pushing people to homelessness,” said Tiffany Durdin. “I have some facts that come from the Census of 2020 and the median income was $55,738 per house. That’s not per person, that’s per house. On average, there are two to two and half people per household. You can’t buy a $250,000 house on that type of income. You can’t get financing for it. But you can get financing with that type of income for a mobile home.”
According to the ordinance, residents will not be unable to simply upgrade their current manufactured home to a newer home unless conditions such as accidental fire or natural disaster destroys the home. Medical hardships allow for a manufactured home to be placed on the property following approval by the planning commission or Board of Supervisors.
Stipulations outlined in the new ordinance also regulates and places restrictions on home businesses and accessory buildings or storage sheds in the county.
Gray Outz, a consultant who helped draft the new Comprehensive Plan complete with new zoning ordinances said Tate County is looking toward a 20-to-25-year growth plan which includes land use and development.
According to Outz, the main source of revenue for the county is generated from property values and subsequent taxes. The county revenue will help to prepare infrastructure such as roads and bridges and services such as the county school system to accommodate expected growth due to migration from surrounding counties. In other words, manufactured homes are not taxed the same as site-built homes and depreciate more drastically from year to year.
“Through my journey with the group ‘Our Land Our Right’ I have learned this affects many more people than just myself. It affects the hard-working citizens that you represent,” Jennifer Self, owner of a single wide mobile home in Tate County, said in comments to Supervisors. “At this time, myself and many others can only speculate that greed was the controlling factor in this new ordinance.”
Additional conditions in the new ordinance require manufactured homes to have porches or landings with stairs at each entrance to the home. The requirement also states each porch must measure a minimum of five feet by five feet and the only acceptable materials are wood, concrete or masonry. Concrete blocks are not permitted.
“We typically review our Comprehensive Plan every 10 to 12 years, and we spent the last several days looking over it again. We have made several proposed changes. Some of the other stuff, excluding the mobile home part, have been in the Comprehensive Plan for years,” said Supervisor Billy Saunders.
Supervisor Darryl Ricks opened the meeting by reading a prepared statement complete with bullet points outlining those proposed changes to the newly adopted Comprehensive Plan with zoning ordinance alterations.
“A major portion of this Comprehensive Plan was copied from the original that was adopted in 2009,” Ricks explained. “This is a tremendous display of concerned citizens here today and without your input, we would have just let this thing flow and that was not our intent.”
A complete and detailed list of proposed changes to the newly adopted Comprehensive Plan is expected to be released soon by the Board of Supervisors and will be printed in a future edition of the Tate Record, along with a date for a public hearing regarding the changes.
Following input from citizens, Supervisors will vote whether to approve or deny the proposed changes to the Comprehensive Plan.
