By By Ben Alexander/The Meridian Star
Feb. 13, 2001
The Meridian City Council is preparing to hold public hearings on whether to allow manufactured home owners to upgrade their homes without the consent of the city zoning board.
As mandated by state law, a public hearing must accompany any potential change to a city's zoning laws.
Current zoning laws require re-zoning of whole areas in cases where a resident wishes to upgrade from a single-wide to double-wide housing. The city's current laws also only allow manufactured housing in certain areas of the city.
Council members want to change the zoning law to allow owners of older, often dilapidated single-wide trailers to be able upgrade to newer double-wide trailers without consent of the zoning board and the rezoning of the area.
Some owners have been on-site since before the city ordinance was written  restricting manufactured housing to certain sectors are now finding it difficult to replace the older trailers because of protests from neighbors.
The idea of restricting the trailer owners from upgrading their housing is not one that has set well with council members in recent weeks.
Ward 1 Councilman Dr. George Thomas said without a change in the zoning laws trailer owners who have been grandfathered in under the restrictive ordinance would face the possibility of having to move if a natural disaster ever happens to their home.
A date and time have not been set yet for the public hearings.
Ben Alexander is a staff writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at balexander@themeridianstar.com.