PLANNING PANEL TO EYE MOBILE HOME RULES

Don't try to move a mobile home into Cape Girardeau unless you put it in a mobile home park. That's the message the city's planning and zoning commission sent Wednesday evening when it rejected George and Lora Lee Eaker's application to put one on the land they own on Vincent Park Drive.

In addition, the commission called a special meeting for 5 p.m. May 28 to discuss the rules and regulations governing mobile homes in the city.

Under the city code, people may put a mobile home in any zoning if they can convince the city council to grant them a special-use permit.

The council, however, may deny permits if it determines the mobile home will "adversely affect the character of the neighborhood," or "adversely affect the general welfare of the community," according to the city code.

The commission hears applicants and makes recommendations before the city council decides.

The commission unanimously voted no even though Ken Hiob, who lives near the property, told them the Eakers' house "would probably be the nicest house on the street."

Another neighbor, Nancy Johnson agreed, but said she worried that if the city allowed the Eakers to build a mobile home on their property, "once a precedent is broken," will others be allowed to build mobile homes in the area that might not be so nice.

R.J. McKinney, commission chairman, said the commission agreed with Johnson's reasoning. It voted no, he said, because it wants the public to get the message it thinks mobile homes adversely affect a neighborhood's character.

Eaker decided not to go to the council, but to spend an additional $10,000 to build a modular home on the property -- the site of the old Juden School No. 2. The city code does not require modular homes to have special-use permits, said Becky Figliolo of the city's planning services office.

Eaker came to the meeting with a letter from Joyce Baker of the Missouri Manufactured Housing Association that he thought said that the city couldn't stop him from getting the special-use permit.

What the letter really said was that the city couldn't use building codes to exclude a mobile home from the city. The letter said that federal law gives the federal government jurisdiction over mobile homes, and that if they pass the federal inspection at the factory, no state or local government can require it to meet a local code.

Eaker said he felt like he was led to believe that the council and the commission had no choice but to approve his application.

McKinney said Eaker is not the first person to feel that way. He said that at the special meeting "we'll try to write something that will eliminate any confusion."

In addition, he said, the commission would decide how the city should treat mobile homes and modular homes.

Mobile homes and modular homes are often built in the same factories. Mobile homes are built on a chassis, have wheels and tongues and can be moved, Figlioli said. Modular homes are built in sections, moved on trailers and lifted by cranes into place.

Eaker's modular home will have a peaked roof and look more like a frame house than his mobile home would have, Eaker said.

Modular homes must meet local building codes and can be inspected locally, said James Phillips, who is in charge of regulation of mobile homes for the Missouri Public Service Commission.