joe stegmayer & j.c. strutzel recipients of prestigious awards

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Welcome to 2012 and CMHI’s
75 th Anniversary!
Seventy-five years ago we joined
forces as the Trailer Coach Association
(TCA). Since then we have transitioned
from TCA to the Western Manufactured
Housing Institute to California
Manufactured Housing Institute – our
nation’s oldest association representing
all segments of our industry.
Representing all segments of the
industry has, at times, been a challenge
but it has definitely been my experience
that working together produces a
greater total effect than that produced
by the sum of individual efforts………
synergy works!
As we head into the New Year we
need to keep in mind that if an issue
is bad for one segment of our industry
that means it is probably bad for our
customers and that means it is bad for
all of us. Here is a case in point…..
A December 16, 2011 article posted
on mydesert.com provided initial detail
on a dispute concerning permissible
fees that can be charged for a permit to
install a manufactured home in a M/H
park.
The City of Desert Hot Springs,
relying on the California Mitigation
Fee Act (MFA) passed an ordinance
which serves as the basis for
imposing a development impact fee
(DIF) of approximately $6,970 for
a permit to install a manufactured
home in a developed M/H park. As
a consequence families wishing to
purchase manufactured homes to be
installed on the 78 vacant lots in Palm
Vista Estates would be faced with
an aggregate fee of approximately
$543,660. If, as has been asserted, the
city is actually charging up to $9,200
per permit to install a manufactured
home, the aggregate fee could be as
high as $717,600.
The owner of Palm Vista Estates and
the California Department of Housing
and Community Development (HCD)
have challenged the applicability of
the DIF to manufactured homes to
be installed in already permitted M/H
parks. As posted in the WMA Newsline
dated December 12, 2011:
The following information is
provided by Brad Harward,
Manufactured Housing Programs
Manager with the Department
of Housing and Community
Development (HCD) - Under the
authority of the Mobilehome Parks
Act (MPA), a city or county may
assume enforcement responsibility
from the State for the mobilehome
parks within their jurisdiction. Such
governmental agencies are then
defined as a Local Enforcement
Agency or LEA and assume the
mandate to properly enforce the
MPA.
HCD staff has learned that some
of the LEAs have been charging
in excess of the HCD-mandated
$196 permit fee for manufactured
home installations. The overcharges
range from several hundred to
many thousands of dollars. These
overcharges are occurring because
the LEAs are calculating fees in
excess of the pre-established
MPA permit fees or by adding
local mitigation fees. According
to California State law, only a new
mobilehome lot may be assessed
mitigation fees and those fees are
assessed at the time the park or lot
is constructed, not when a home is
installed on an existing lot. HCD is
looking into the practices of at least
four LEAs regarding the assessment
of fees in excess of those permitted
by the MPA for installation of the
Page 6
manufactured homes inside a park.
The MPA, California Health and
Safety Code Sections 18200 through
18700, and its adopted regulations
contained in the California Code
of Regulations, Title 25, Chapter
2 provides for the enforcement
of mobilehome parks, including
manufactured home installations and
fees. The fees set forth are the only
fees that may lawfully be assessed
for the installation of a manufactured
home inside a park. The current
cost of a permit and inspection for
the installation of a manufactured
home in a park is $196 for the first
hour and $41 for the second and
subsequent half hour thereafter. An
LEA is required to enforce the MPA
and has no authority to exceed the
statutorily mandated permit fees.
The fee set by the regulations
of the installation, or set-up of a
manufactured home, includes permit
issuance, travel, administrative time
and the first hour of inspection.
continued on page 7
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