By Tia Lyons
Staff Writer
EL DORADO — The El Dorado City Council upheld its denial of a request to move a mobile home older than 10 years inside city limits.
The council initially denied the request from local resident Lisa Williams on Feb. 23, and revisited the issue with another vote earlier this month.
Alderwoman Kensel Spivey asked the council on March 10 to reconsider the matter, reiterating that the 1998-model mobile home was in good condition, and city code enforcement officer Kirby Craig had signed off on the request after taking a look at the mobile home.
City ordinance prohibits mobile homes that are more than a decade old from being moved into city limits, with aldermen agreeing in 2013 to follow federal guidelines regulating pre-manufactured housing standards for electrical wiring, plumbing and construction.
On March 10, Spivey said she had looked at photographs of the 19-year-old mobile home and asked Craig if assessing such requests on a case-by-case basis would pose any undue hardship on the city code enforcement office.
“Kirby Craig didn’t have a problem with it, and he said would not be an undue hardship because it’s three miles outside city limits,” Spivey said.
City attorney Henry Kinslow said the council reserves the right to waive the requirement on a particular case if the code enforcement officer is OK with the condition of the mobile home and the structure will withstand a move.
“This is a 1998 trailer, but it is in very good shape, it is like brand new,” Craig told aldermen last month.
Craig said the code enforcement office charges a per-mile fee to travel outside city limits to inspect mobile homes, saying that he has received requests to look at mobile homes as far away as Texarkana and farther.
“That ten-year cap knocks about 80 percent of them out,” he told the council on March 10.
Alderwoman Judy Ward said the council previously experienced a “huge problem” with people moving mobile homes that were not in good shape inside city limits.
In 2008, the council adopted an ordinance prohibiting mobile homes that were manufactured prior to Oct. 25, 1994.
The age limit was amended to ten years in 2013.
“We did that to stop people from brining in ratty trailers and setting them up and boarding them up and letting the weeds overtake them,” Alderman Willie McGhee said on March 10.
“This lady wants to live in this trailer, and Kirby Craig brought back a recommendation. That’s his job. He’s our eyes in the field,” McGhee continued.
Spivey also pointed to long-running discussions among citizens and community leaders about the need for decent, affordable housing in El Dorado, saying that she wanted to re-introduce the issue because she felt it was worthy of another discussion.
A question arose about if the matter should be taken to the El Dorado Planning and Zoning Commission for consideration.
Mayor Frank Hash said the council has already voted on the request, and Alderman Mike Rice said the planning and zoning commission focuses on the applicable city zones in which mobile homes are allowed, not the condition of the structures.
“You’ve got to follow the rules. If you can’t lower the standard for houses, then you can’t lower the standards for mobile homes,” Alderman Billy Blann said. “If you do, then how do you raise the standards for El Dorado?”
The request was denied in a 5-2 vote, with Spivey and McGhee voting yes. Alderman Dianne Hammond was unable to attend the meeting.
Tia Lyons may be contacted at 870-862-6611 or by email at tlyons@ eldoradonews.com.