R-MH Mobile Home Districts may hereafter be established in accordance with the procedures, requirements and limitations set forth in this article. Within such district, mobile homes, with such additional supporting uses and occupancies as are permitted herein, may be established subject to the requirements and limitations set forth in these and other regulations.[1]

It is the intent of this article to recognize mobile homes constructed prior to October 1, 1974, as distinct and different from units designated as mobile homes within the definitions of this article and to prohibit units not meeting the requirements for mobile homes as defined herein. Units constructed prior to 1974 and with a value, as determined by the Village Assessor, of less than $4,500 are prohibited. Mobile homes meeting the requirements of the Uniform Dwelling Code shall not be permitted in a R-MH Mobile Home District except as a conditional use. Permits may be obtained only after approval by the Plan Commission.[2]

No person shall park, locate or place any mobile home outside of a licensed mobile home park in the Village of Spencer, except in the Freeman Subdivision with restrictions per § 480-87, or unoccupied mobile homes may be parked on the lawfully situated premises of a licensed mobile home dealer for the purposes of sale display; the lawfully situated premises of a vehicle service business for purposes of servicing or making necessary repairs; the premises leased or owned by the owner of such mobile home for purposes of sales display for a period not exceeding 120 days, provided no business is carried on therein, or in an accessory private garage, building or rear yard of the owner of such mobile home, provided no business is carried on therein.

Where an R-MH District is to be established for the development of a mobile home park, the minimum area shall be five acres. The minimum number of lots or spaces completed and ready for occupancy before first occupancy is permitted shall be established as 50% of total units permitted on zoned site.[1]

These limitations shall not apply where expansion of an existing mobile home park is concerned and where such expansion will not increase variation from requirements applying to mobile home parks, as set forth herein.

One-family detached mobile homes (residential mobile home). In mobile home parks, recreational vehicles shall not be occupied as living quarters and sales lots shall not be permitted, but dwellings may be sold on lots they occupy in residential use.

Permitted accessory uses and structures. Uses and structures that are customarily accessory and clearly incidental to permitted principal uses and structures shall be permitted, except for those requiring specific approval as provided below.

Rental. No mobile home site shall be rented for a period of less than 30 days.

Required. No person shall construct, alter, or extend any mobile home park within the limits of the Village, unless the property is rezoned to R-MH and he holds a valid permit issued by the Village Board in the name of such person for the specific construction, alteration or extension proposed.[1]

Determination of public interest required. No permit for the construction, alteration or extension of any mobile home park shall be issued by the Village Board unless the issuance thereof shall first be determined to be in the best interests of the Village.

Fee. Applications for mobile home park developer's permit shall be accompanied by a fee as set by the Village Board to cover the cost of investigation and processing, plus regular building permit fees for all buildings or structures to be erected within the proposed park. The applicant shall also agree to pay to the Village such amounts as may be reasonably expended from time to time during construction by the Village for engineering inspections of all services and other facilities so as to verify compliance with this section and the proposed plans and specifications of such mobile home park.[2]

Applications. Applications shall be made on forms furnished by the Zoning Administrator and shall include the following information:

Final plans. Final engineering plans and specifications complying with the provisions of this article and the zoning regulations and any modifications or conditions imposed by the governing body shall be submitted to the Zoning Administrator and checked by the proper municipal officials for compliance before the district is approved.

Rezoning procedures. The procedure for creation of an R-MH District shall be as prescribed in § 480-103 of this chapter, except that the standards and conditions in §§ 480-38 and 480-41 shall be followed.[3]

Assignment of permits. No permit, once issued, shall be assignable without the written consent of the Village Board.

Minimum home sites. No permit shall be issued unless the same shall be for the construction of not less than 10 mobile home stands.

Guides in issuing permit. In issuing a permit, the Village Board may consider the discussion and recommendations as contained in the "Environmental Health Guide for Mobile Home Parks," as prepared by the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, as amended from time to time, but the Village Board shall not be limited to or bound by any such discussion or recommendation.

Required. No person shall operate any mobile home park within the Village unless he holds a valid license issued annually by the Village Board in the name of such person for a specific mobile home park. Such license, upon issuance, shall be valid for the period from July 1 through June 30 of the ensuing year.

Determination of public interest required. No license for the operation of a mobile home park shall be issued by the Village Board unless the issuance thereof shall first be determined to be in the best interest of the Village.

Application. The application for an original license shall be in writing, signed by the applicant, accompanied by an affidavit of the applicant as to the truth of the application, and by deposit of a fee as set by the Village Board and shall contain the name and address of the applicant; location, legal description and site plan of the mobile home park showing all mobile home lots, structures, roads, walkways and other service facilities, showing compliance with the construction permit and such other matters as may have been required by the Village Board.[1]

Deposit. Applications for renewals of licenses shall be made in writing by the holders of the licenses and shall be accompanied by the deposit of a fee as set by the Village Board. Such application shall contain any change in the information submitted since the original license was issued or the latest renewal was granted.[2]

Notice of transfer of interest. Every person holding a license shall give notice in writing to the Village Board within three days after having sold, transferred, given away or otherwise disposed of any interest in or control over any mobile home park. Such notice shall include the name and address of the person succeeding to the ownership or control of such mobile home park. Upon application in writing for transfer of the license and deposit of a fee as set by the Village Board, the license may be transferred if the mobile home park is in compliance with all applicable provisions of this chapter and if the transfer shall be in the best interests of the Village. The transfer of any license shall not be unreasonably withheld.[3]

Hearing on rejection. Any person whose application for a license under this chapter has been denied may request and shall be granted a hearing on the matter before the Village Board.

Rules and regulations. The Village Board may, from time to time, ordain and impose such other rules, regulations and requirements as to the construction and maintenance of such mobile home park, and as to the operation and use thereof, as the Village Board shall deem necessary or advisable to and for the health, safety and general welfare of the residents of such mobile home park and the Village.

Licenses not assignable without consent. No license, once issued, shall be assignable without the written consent of the Village Board.

Monthly parking permit fee. In addition to the above license fees, the licensee, or the owner, or the occupant of every mobile home shall pay and be jointly and severally liable for the payment of a monthly parking permit fee to the Village as determined under § 66.0435, Wis. Stats. Such monthly parking permit fees shall be collected by the licensee, who is primarily liable for the payment thereof.

Ch. HSS I77, Wis. Adm. Code, as now existing or hereafter amended, is hereby made a part of this chapter and incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth, except that such regulations shall not be deemed to modify any requirement of this chapter or any other applicable law or ordinance of the state or Village.

Requirements.

Attachments and accessory structures.

No mobile home park shall be laid out, constructed or operated without Village water supply and sanitary sewer service. All water or sanitary sewerage facilities in any unit not connected with public water or sewer systems by approved pipe connections shall be sealed and their use is hereby declared unlawful.

All parks shall be furnished with lighting so spaced and equipped with luminaires placed at such heights as will provide the following average maintained levels of illumination for the safe movement of pedestrians and vehicles at night:

Spaces abut upon street; street widths.

All mobile home parks shall have a greenbelt or buffer strip not less than 20 feet wide along all boundaries. Unless adequately screened by existing vegetative cover, all mobile home parks shall be provided within such greenbelt or buffer strip with screening of natural growth or screen fence, except where the adjoining property is also a mobile home park. Compliance with this requirement shall be made within five years from the granting of the mobile home park developer's permit. Permanent planting shall be grown and maintained at a height of not less than six feet. Screening or planting requirements may be waived or modified by the governing body if it finds that the exterior architectural appeal and functional plan of the park, when completed, will be materially enhanced by modification or elimination of such screen planting requirements.

In all mobile home parks, there shall be one or more recreation areas easily accessible to all park residents. No single recreation area shall contain less than 2,500 square feet unless each mobile home site is provided with a contiguous common recreational area not less than 20 feet wide at the narrowest dimension. Recreation areas shall be so located as to be free of traffic hazards and convenient to mobile home spaces which they serve.

The storage, collection and disposal of refuse in the mobile home park shall be so conducted as to create no health hazards, rodent harborage, insect breeding areas, accident or fire hazards or air pollution. All refuse shall be stored in flytight, watertight, rodent-proof containers. Containers shall be provided by the park management in sufficient number and capacity to properly store all refuse.

All mobile home parks shall be provided with safe and convenient vehicular access from abutting public streets or roads to each mobile home space. Entrances to parks shall be designed to minimize congestion and traffic hazards and allow free movement of traffic on adjacent streets.

The park management shall keep the grounds, buildings and structures free of insect and rodent harborage and infestation. Extermination methods and other measures to control insects and rodents shall conform with the requirements of the Village Board.

Parks shall be maintained free of accumulations of debris which may provide rodent harborage or breeding places for flies, mosquitoes and other pests.

The growth of brush, weeds, and grass shall be controlled to prevent harborage of ticks, chiggers and other noxious insects. Parks shall be so maintained as to prevent the growth of ragweed, poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac and other noxious weeds considered detrimental to health. Open areas shall be maintained free of heavy undergrowth of any description.

The park management shall not enter into any lease or otherwise permit any mobile home occupancy in the park for any period of less than 30 days, excusable emergencies only accepted.

In every mobile home park, there shall be located an office of the attendant or person in charge of said park. A copy of the park license and of this chapter shall be posted therein and the park register shall, at all times, be kept in said office.

The attendant or person in charge and the park licensee shall operate the park in compliance with this chapter and regulations and ordinances of the Village and state and their agents or officers and shall have the following duties:

Park occupants shall comply with all applicable requirements of this chapter and regulations issued hereunder and shall maintain their mobile home space, its facilities and equipment in good repair and in a clean and sanitary condition.

Park occupants shall be responsible for proper placement of their mobile homes on the mobile home stand and proper installation of all utility connections in accordance with the instructions of the park management.

No owner or person in charge of a dog, cat or other pet animal shall permit it to run at large or to cause any nuisance within the limits of any mobile home park.

Each owner or occupant of a nonexempt mobile home within a mobile home park shall remit to the licensee or authorized park management the cash deposit and monthly parking permit fee.

It shall be the duty of every occupant of a park to give the park licensee or management, or his agent or employee, access to any part of such park or mobile home premises at reasonable times for the purpose of making such repairs or alterations as are necessary to effect compliance with this chapter or any law or ordinance of the state or Village or lawful regulation or order adopted thereunder.

Mobile homes shall be parked only on the mobile home stands provided and shall be placed thereon in accordance with all requirements of this chapter.

No mobile homeowner or occupant shall conduct in any unit or any mobile home park any business or engage in any other activity which would not be permitted in single-family residential areas in the Village.

No person shall discharge any wastewater on the surface of the ground within any mobile home park.

No person shall erect or place upon any mobile home space any permanent or temporary structure intended to be used for dwelling purposes or in connection with any mobile home unit except as specifically authorized by this chapter.

Wrecked, damaged or dilapidated mobile homes shall not be kept or stored in a mobile home park or upon any premises in the Village. The Building Inspector or Village Board shall determine if a mobile home is damaged or dilapidated to a point which makes it unfit for human occupancy. Such mobile homes are hereby declared to be a public nuisance. Whenever the Building Inspector or Village Board so determines, he shall notify the licensee or landowner and owner of the mobile home in writing that such public nuisance exists within the park or on lands owned by him giving the findings upon which his determination is based and shall order such home removed from the park or site or repaired to a safe, sanitary and wholesome condition of occupancy within a reasonable time, but not less than 30 days.

The Building Inspector, Fire Chief or their lawful agents or employees are authorized and directed to inspect mobile home parks not less than once in every twelve-month period to determine the health, safety and welfare of the occupants of the park and inhabitants of the Village as affected thereby and the compliance of structures and activities therein with this chapter and all other applicable laws of the state and ordinances of the Village.

Fires in mobile home parks shall be made only in stoves and other cooking or heating equipment intended for such purposes. Outside burning is prohibited except by permit and subject to requirements or restrictions of the Fire Chief.

All plumbing, building, electrical, oil or gas distribution, alterations or repairs in the park shall be in accordance with the regulations of applicable laws, ordinances and regulations of the state and municipalities and their authorized agents.

All mobile homes in mobile home parks shall be skirted unless the unit is placed within one foot vertically of the stand with soil or other material completely closing such space from view and entry by rodents and vermin. Areas enclosed by such skirting shall be maintained free of rodents and fire hazards.

No person shall construct, alter or add to any structure, attachment or building in a mobile home park or on a mobile home space without a permit from the Building Inspector. Construction on, or addition or alteration to the exterior of a mobile home shall be of the same type of construction and materials as the mobile home affected. This subsection shall not apply to addition of awnings, antennas or skirting to mobile homes. Accessory structures on mobile home spaces shall comply with all setback, side yard and rear yard requirements for mobile home units.

Storage under mobile homes is prohibited.

Conditions of soil, groundwater level, drainage and topography shall not create hazards to the property or the health or safety of the occupants. The site shall not be exposed to objectionable smoke, noise, odors, or other adverse influences, and no portion subject to unpredictable and/or sudden flooding, subsidence or erosion shall be used for any purpose which would expose persons or property to hazards.

Exposed ground surfaces in all parts of every mobile home park shall be paved, or covered with stone screenings, or other solid materials, or protected with a vegetative growth that is capable of preventing soil erosion and of eliminating objectionable dust.

The ground surface in all parts of every mobile home park shall be graded and equipped to drain all surface water in a safe, efficient manner.

No more than one identification sign, not exceeding 20 square feet in area, for each principal entrance.

No more than one sign, not exceeding four square feet in area, advertising property for sale, lease or rent, or indicating "Vacancy" or "No Vacancy," may be erected at each principal entrance.

In the case of new mobile home parks consisting in whole or in part of mobile home subdivisions or condominiums, one sign, not exceeding 20 square feet in area, may be erected for a period of not more than two years at each principal entrance to advertise the sale of lots or dwellings.

No source of illumination for any such signs shall be directly visible from adjoining streets or residential property, and no such signs shall be erected within five feet of any exterior property line.

No less than 10% of the total area of any mobile home park established under these regulations shall be devoted to common recreational areas and facilities, such as playgrounds, swimming pools, community buildings, ways for pedestrians and cyclists away from streets and play areas for small children or other recreational areas in block interiors. At least one principal recreation and community center shall contain not less than 5% of the total area of the community.

To be countable as common recreational area, interior-block ways for pedestrians or cyclists shall form part of a system leading to principal destinations. Such ways may also be used for installations of utilities.

Common recreational area shall not include streets or parking areas, shall be closed to automotive traffic except for maintenance and service vehicles, and shall be improved and maintained for the uses intended.

Principal vehicular access points. Principal vehicular access points shall be designed to encourage smooth traffic flow with controlled turning movements and minimum hazards to vehicular or pedestrian traffic. Merging and turnout lanes and/or traffic dividers shall be required where existing or anticipated heavy flows indicate need. In general, minor streets shall not be connected with streets outside the district in such a way as to encourage the use of such minor streets by substantial amounts of through traffic. No lot within the community shall have direct vehicular access to a street bordering the development.

Access for pedestrians and cyclists. Access for pedestrians and cyclists entering or leaving the park shall be by safe and convenient routes. Such ways need not be adjacent to or limited to the vicinity of vehicular access points. Where there are crossings of such ways and vehicular routes at edges of planned developments, such crossings shall be safety located, marked and controlled and where such ways are exposed to substantial vehicular traffic at edges of parks, safeguards may be required to prevent crossings except at designated points. Bicycle paths, if provided, shall be so related to the pedestrian way system that street crossings are combined.

Protection of visibility: automotive traffic, cyclists and pedestrians. At intersections of any streets, public or private, the provisions of § 480-48 shall apply and is hereby adopted by reference. Where there is pedestrian or bicycle access from within the community to a street at its edges by paths or across yards or other open space without a barrier to prevent access to the street, no material impediment to visibility more than 2.5 feet above ground level shall be created or maintained within 25 feet of said street unless at least 25 feet from said access measured at right angles to the path.

Ways for pedestrians and/or cyclists in exterior yards. In any exterior yard, required or other, ways for pedestrian and/or cyclists may be permitted, if appropriately located, fenced or landscaped to prevent potential hazards arising from vehicular traffic on adjacent streets or other hazards and annoyances to users or to occupants of adjoining property. When otherwise in accord with the requirements concerning such ways set forth above, approved ways in such locations shall be counted as common recreation facilities and may also be used for utilities easements.

Internal relationships. The site plan shall provide for safe, efficient, convenient and harmonious groupings of structures, uses and facilities, and for appropriate relation of space inside and outside buildings to intended uses and structural features. In particular:

All zoning requirements including lot size and setback restrictions shall be complied with;

That within one year of the date of the location of the mobile home on any lot in the designated R-MH zoned subdivision, a garage structure/building of at least 16 feet by 24 feet must be erected.

No mobile home shall be permitted within the designated R-MH zoned subdivision unless it contains a minimum of 900 square feet of living space.

All mobile homes located within the designated R-MH zoned subdivision shall be situated on piers of concrete or other suitable material which shall extend below the frost line in order to prevent shifting of the mobile homes and shall be properly anchored to reduce risk of wind damage.

All wheels shall be removed from all mobile homes when placed in the designated R-MH zoned subdivision.

All mobile homes within the designated R-MH zoned subdivision shall be skirted with appropriate material within 30 days of being situated on a lot.

Any mobile home to be located in R-MH zoned subdivision must have a value of at least $20,000.

Each mobile home that is placed in the Freeman Subdivision must have a pitched roof and have vinyl siding or better on the sides of the home.

Any person who shall locate a mobile home within the district and who shall then fail to comply with the requirements of this section may be required by action of the Village Board to remove said home within 30 days after service of the notice of a demand to remove such mobile home. The Village Board may take appropriate legal action to enforce any decision made under this section.