Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

All right. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Today is Thursday, July 2nd, 2026. It is 9.03 a.m. We are in the city chambers, and I call the Planning and Zoning Advisory Board meeting to order. Our first business is roll call. I will ask the board members beginning at the right hand to please state their names for the record.

Michael Pankratzky. Bharat Bhagat. Charles Wolfe. Richard Gortz.

Absent are Mr. Keough and Mr. Kowalczyk and Ms. Wall. Okay. Will all please rise I ask the Administrative Service Specialist if there are any public comment cards that have been submitted. There are none. There are none, okay. Next item is the approval of minutes, the minutes of June 4th, 2026 of the Planning and Zoning Advisory Board meeting. I request a motion. Motion to approve. Okay, Mr. Bergaev has moved to approve. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Gortz has seconded. Is there any discussion? All right, the motion is to approve the minutes of the June 4th, 2026 meeting as presented. We'll all vote aye or no. Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Motion carries. The next item is general business. Item 2609-27, consideration of an amendment to sections 3.1.2 and 4.4.1 in Appendix A, Article 1 of the Unified Land Development Code to provide for compliance with section 553.385 of the Florida statutes. Will the specialist introduce the item?

Good morning, Elena Ray, Director of Development Services. This item is in response to some very recent legislative changes at the state level. During the 2026 legislative session, the Florida legislature passed House Bill 399 that removed city and county's ability to regulate where manufactured homes, most people think of them as mobile homes, where they're allowed to be placed. And they require that all local jurisdictions allow manufactured homes to be placed on any single family lot where single family is allowed. So essentially what that means is that our platted lots in the city that are zoned single family, anyone can put a mobile home on those lots. The legislature, that House Bill 399, the law was written to go into effect January 1st of 2027. So we were working on changes. We had scheduled into our activities changes so that we could get an ordinance passed before that effective date. However, during one of their special sessions that they had for tax relief discussions and budget discussions, they also passed a second bill, House Bill 803, that carried over the same language that was in House Bill 399 regarding manufactured homes and made it effective July 1st this year. So that removed any time that we had to get an ordinance into effect. We rushed through an ordinance through our legal team. We had a lot of support getting the ordinance ready for this hearing. It does preserve what regulatory authority the state legislature is allowing us to keep. We can require aesthetic conditions as long as they are the same types of conditions that we require for other single-family homes. We can require that the foundations that these manufactured homes are placed on comply with the Florida Building Code. We can require things like carports and porches and those types of things that are attached to these mobile homes that they also be in compliance with the Florida building code. But the home itself does not have to comply with the Florida building code. It complies with the national federal HUD standards, housing and urban development standards. So we are... We are very limited in what we can enforce regarding these homes. We cannot deny them simply because they are a manufactured home. So the changes that we've made, the proposed changes that we have made to the ULDC for your consideration, preserve the regulatory authority that we have builds in requirements for the foundations meeting Florida building code for those accessory structures such as carports, stairs, porches, those types of things to meet the Florida building code. It does require that the manufactured home be owned by the same person who owns the land that it sits on. That is one of the conditions that the legislature did write into the law, so we are including that in our ordinance as well. There is no way that we could have gotten this through the process prior to the July 1st effective date, so that law is effective right now. But we do have this scheduled so that if we get your recommendation of approval today, it will go to the commission with the recommendation of approval. And our hope is to have this adopted before the commission takes its August break. And that is my summary of this ordinance. I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Does the board have any questions?

Yeah, you say, like, how is it possible, like, if the House not comply with the building code and comply, is that conflict to each other? I mean, like, the House should be, you know, durable against a hurricane.

So federal law trumps state law. State law trumps local law. So the federal housing and urban development standards trump state laws. So these manufactured homes do not have to comply with any state building codes. That is a federal law. State law that is now in effect says that we have to allow those homes. So that trumps our local laws regarding both our ULDC. It also, because the state legislature is the one that adopts the Florida Building Code and decides what the Florida Building Code applies to, the state legislature is also in the position to have the power to say a structure doesn't have to meet it. So this is what we call a preemption, where the state takes away our ability to regulate something at the local level. It's a situation that, unfortunately, we will have to deal with, but the homes themselves do not have to meet the Florida Building Code, and that is something that we cannot require because it would be more stringent than what the state law has specified.

One more question. Recently we have like some ordinance about garages made from metal. What about them? Like look like right now those mobile homes can be done, built by, I have no idea, from siding and what about those garages for example?

So that part of the ordinance doesn't take effect until next year because of previous legislation that was passed at the state. So right now people are still installing metal garages. So essentially what that ordinance states is that the material of the garage has to be similar or compatible with the primary structure. So if the primary structure is siding, then the garage could be siding as well.

It has to be compatible.

Right, right.

So the mobile home will be in a foundation. It'll be anchored on that foundation. Correct. Do the utility... Hookups have to comply with city ordinance, water, sewer.

Yes, everything else. We can't regulate the structure itself as far as what HUD covers. But yes, all of the utilities, everything else would be under the local codes.

Are they required to put a garage or a carport in?

They are not.

Okay.

Not until 2027 when our ordinance goes into effect regarding, I believe that was still in the ULDC? Okay. We will have to look at that.

Can they put a garage up on their property before they put the mobile home in there?

No. Garages are considered accessory structures and Our ULDC does not allow accessory structures without a primary structure on the property.

And it has to be the primary, the owner of the lot that's putting the mobile home in. So somebody can't buy multiple lots, put multiple.

Correct. So you couldn't have something where somebody leases their property to someone else who places a mobile home there.

Okay.

It has to be owned by the same individual.

Okay. So when they... If they... They can't rent it out then?

They can rent it out, but the owner of the...

Okay, so own the mobile home also.

Correct.

What would prevent somebody from going in and buying multiple lots... buying multiple mobile homes and putting them in a neighborhood and then renting all those out?

Nothing.

Nothing.

And there is no way for us to regulate that. As long as the mobile homes are owned by the same entity that owns the land, then we cannot prevent them from being rented out.

Okay. The trailer house and mobile home is the same for the solution or different?

Under federal law, mobile homes are considered those homes that were built prior to 1976. There were some design standard laws that went into effect at the federal level in 1976. So from a technical standpoint, pre-1976 is what is really considered a mobile home. After 1976, it's legally called a manufactured home. Same thing, but a little bit more stringent design standards after 1976. But yes, the only difference is that our ordinance will require that prior to placing the structure on the foundation, they will have to remove all wheels, hitches, all of those types of things. The only thing they don't have to remove is the chassis, which is typically... part, it's typically integral to the structure itself.

That has happened statewide?

Statewide.

So this ordinance is mobile homes and manufactured homes? Or only the ones before 76? It's the one, only the ones after 1976. So you would have to have one that was 1976 or newer. For this ordinance?

For this ordinance.

So if it's older than 76?

It wouldn't be. This ordinance is not applicable to those. Those they would have to put in a mobile home park.

Okay. And are manufactured homes allowed? Like this also, or are we just talking mobile homes? They get towed to site and then the wheels and stuff.

That is what these are. That's what a manufactured home is. It's just one that was built after 1976. Okay. Yeah.

One more last question. I'm sorry. Can they put like used mobile home on a new lot?

Yes.

So it just can't go back and forth?

Well, typically once they're put on a permanent foundation and they're permanently tied down because it has to be permanently affixed, it's typically too expensive to move them again. Once they're there, they're pretty much there.

What's the minimum square footage of it?

It would be the same as any. It varies by district, but it would be the same as any site-built home.

What do we have right now, 1,000? Or 800 square feet?

I think it's 900 square feet in some districts. I think R1 is 900 square feet. 900 square feet?

Right. Okay. I live in Holiday Park, the only mobile home park in the city of Northport. I was the chairman of the board for many years there during the time of the hurricanes that we had come through, including Ian. And for everybody, Holiday Park is a special district. It's a city within a city, self-governing. But when Ian came through, out of 865 homes in Holiday Park, we lost 160 of them due to the hurricane. And those are vacant lots there for the most part. Many have new homes built on them. But those that we lost are almost all those that were the pre-'76 homes. They were built to a completely different standard. We lost none of the homes that were less than 15 years old. Some had damage to gutters and siding, and then any other homes may have had maybe some roof problems as well. But the new homes are constructed completely differently than those old ones. They have two by six exterior walls and two by four interiors, where the older homes have two by four exterior and two by two interiors. And the way they're put together today with the steel brackets holding the studs to the plates, et cetera, it's just my neighbor had a new one put in. was replaced by the federal government and put in a new one and new standards. Told me about a hurricane, I want to get into his tool shed. It's, talk about your breakout house, that set, it's a phenomenal thing. So today they're built so differently and I think with the new standards and protections to the city, I think it's a very good thing for the community. I don't know that it's a great thing that these are allowed on lots in any residential neighborhood throughout the area. But with regard to movement, in the 15 years I've lived in Holley Park, we have never had a home moved out or older homes moved in. It's always new homes that are built. And we probably had, I would guess, 30 or 40 new homes put in since Ian, and there are They build them so differently. They're architecturally different than the old ones that you've seen in the past. And so I think you'd find that properly placed that they could be an asset to the community.

Like we said earlier, we cannot enforce building code on new houses. This I understand.

For example, if- Is your microphone on?

Sorry. Yeah, that might be as fair as this mobile home and building code is kind of separate. How will you evaluate that? For example, somebody want to put their mobile home in a house. Do we have any requirements on that mobile home to hold, like, say, 160 miles per hour or anything?

So, these manufactured homes, they're certified by HUD. And they have documentation and stickers that state that they're, like, there's stickers on the home itself that state that they are HUD compliant. I don't know what the wind load is. 140 miles. 140. So it's not quite as high as Florida Building Code, but we can't hold them to anything additional.

Like windows, for example. We cannot install a regular window, which does not hold the pressure and wind. But mobile home with a regular window?

They only have to comply with the standards that HUD sets.

Do you have a HUD for standards for Florida only?

It's, no, they are nationwide.

Let's go ahead. Has there been any public comment on this matter? Have you had any public comment on this? No public comment. All right, if there are no further questions, I request a motion.

Can I have one more question? What if it will not pass it?

If this doesn't pass, they can still be placed on any single family lot. We just won't have any requirements regarding foundations or anything they might attach to it. So it puts us in a worse position than we would be in if we pass it.

Okay. Chairman, I move to recommend that the City Commission approve the amendment to Sections 3.1.2, 4.4.1, and Appendix A, Article 1 of the Unified Land Development Code, via Ordinance Number 2026-20, and find that the amendment is consistent with the Northport Comprehensive Plan,

All right, the motion has been made and seconded that we recommend to the City Council, the City Commission approve the amendment to Section 3.1, 4.1, Appendix A, Article 1 of the Unified Land Development Code, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Shall we all for a vote? State to approve, aye or nay? Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye.

Motion carries.

Thank you.

Do the board members have any items to be placed on a future agenda?

No.

Hearing none, I request the administrative service specialist to call on those who have submitted public comment cards to come to the podium. There have been none. That being the case, I think we have completed our agenda. The time is 925 a.m. and I hereby adjourn this meeting.