PARKERSBURG - Wood County planners will consider possible land use regulation changes in the hopes of exercising tighter control over mobile homes in the floodway.
The planning commission has been discussing the possibility of requiring stickers on mobile homes located in flood zoned properties in order to get a better handle on permit enforcement. To locate a trailer in an area designated as a flood zone, the owner must obtain a building permit.
"There are certain restrictions that apply including elevation and tie-down requirements in the flood zones. The problem comes when someone moves a trailer out and another one in, we can't be there all the time and we can't always tell when a trailer that had a permit has been moved out and one that doesn't have a permit has been moved in," said Wood County compliance officer John Reed.
Originally, there was discussion about requiring stickers on all trailers, but there are about 47 trailer parks in the county. If the new sticker requirement is only for ones in the flood zones, the number comes down to about a half a dozen trailer parks, Reed noted.
The proposed wording for the changes may be presented at the February planning commission meeting, but officials said they don't anticipate any public hearing to be held until at least March and possibly later on the changes. The planners meet on the first Wednesday of each month.
If the proposed changes are approved by the planning commission, they would then go to the county commission and a public hearing date would be scheduled before further action could be taken.
Fact Box
Proposed Regulation Changes:
Wood County planners will consider possible land use regulation changes in the hopes of exercising tighter control over mobile homes in the floodway.
Planning commission has been discussing the possibility of requiring stickers on mobile homes in flood zoned properties to get a better handle on permit enforcement. To locate a trailer in an area designated as a flood zone, the owner must obtain a building permit.
If the proposed changes are approved by the planning commission, they would then go to the county commission and a public hearing date would be scheduled before further action could be taken.
"If we get them before we can help them with the requirements, instead of catching them after the fact, which creates problems, we're in court now with one of those cases," Reed said. The building permit fee is $10 for a single wide trailer in a flood zone area.
Violations of floodplain regulations can result in a county being placed on probation or even suspended from the FEMA program which provides subsidized flood insurance coverage.
The county has a case now pending in circuit court involving two trailers in Meadowbrook Acres Mobile Home Park. Officials contend the trailers placed in the mobile home court in Lubeck are in violation of the floodplain ordinance and must be removed. Trailer owners are arguing the property at issue is grandfathered because the floodplain ordinance was not in effect when the mobile home park was established, therefore, the trailers placed there now are not in violation. A temporary injunction was granted in the civil action pending further rulings.
Wood County became part of the National Flood Insurance Program in 1977. Congress created the program in 1968 in response to the rising cost of taxpayer-funded disaster relief for flood victims and increasing flood damage. Through the program, federally subsidized flood insurance is made available to homeowners, renters and business owners building in floodprone areas. As part of the NFIP, the county is required to maintain a building permit system and building permit-floodplain enforcement officer.
As part of the regulations, there are restrictions for building within floodplain areas and elevation requirements. If the county violates flood insurance program regulations, it can be placed on probation or removed from the program, making federally subsidized flood insurance
