Zoning/Land use help? - Polk County (Winter Springs, Seminole: condo, mobile home)

[polkcountyres]

Hi there,

I've been looking to buy land around 1 acre, but I'm so confused as to how exactly the zoning works. Is anyone able to tell me if I can place multiple manufactured homes on one parcel? Or what kind of zoning would I need to do that? I've driven by quite a few areas where there are multiple manufactured homes close together on what looks to be one property. I would like to do the same, however, the information I find is quite confusing and I think (if I'm reading it correctly) states that you can only place one home per lot no matter the size. And that you can have ONE additional "ADU" behind the main home. That wouldn't work as I'm trying to build a home for each family member but on one land.

Anyone have clarity on this or have placed multiple homes on one lot? Would I have to ask for special permission or something similar?

thanks!

[drive carephilly]

If you want expert advice you should really be calling the Polk County Zoning Department but when you do, be aware that in this question you're leaving out key details that you will need to know the answers to when you ask the experts - specifically where the property is and the size of the lot and exactly how many homes you're looking to put there.

Anyway, yes, everywhere I've worked permits one home on one parcel and may or may not allow an accessory dwelling unit in certain zones when certain conditions are met. But what Zones a place has and what is permitted in each is different in every city and every county. Seminole County allows people to keep chickens in any zone. Winter Springs prohibits it everywhere.

If you're seeing multiple mobile/manufactured homes close together it's probably because that land is zoned for it. Some places I've worked call it M or RM-1, RM-2, etc. with the number denoting the density that's permitted. Also, not every mobile home park is organized the same way so some are subdivided, some are condo plat, most have some form of HOA.

You can only do what the zoning allows. If you're looking at land that's zoned for Ag then (I'm just guessing for Polk Co.) you can probably only have one unit for every 2-5 acres. If you're looking at 10 acres and their minimum lot size is 2 acres then, in theory, you can put 5 homes there. But you'd first need to subdivide the 10 acres and each new lot would need to have right-of-way access (meaning you might have to build a street). But that's assuming that Polk County would permit the subdivision of Ag land in that particular location - lots of counties have urban growth boundaries and that sort of thing is not permitted outside of the UGB. If that's the case then you'd have to do a series of lot splits over a 4-8 year period depending on their code.

If the property is zoned Ag but the underlying Future Land Use is something else then any new development (a subdivision) would require a zoning change to match the FLU. So, if the zoning is Ag but the FLU is "Low Density Residential" that might mean that you can't put manufactured housing there. Minimum lot size in LDR is going to be a lot lower than under Ag zoning but there will still be minimums.

There's always the chance you could run a Comp Plan Amendment to change the FLU and a Zoning Map Amendment to change the zoning so that you could have manufactured housing but those are expensive processes that will take 6 months to a year and will probably involve community meetings where the neighbors come out with pitchforks and torches and heckle you and will definitely involve multiple public hearings.

Anyway, the short answer is, "There are a lot of variables so - it depends."

**I'm feeling charitable today so Polk's Land Development Code is here:
https://library.municode.com/fl/polk...Id=CH2LAUSDIRE
but I wouldn't go fancying yourself a professional. Having lots of experience flushing a toilet doesn't make you a plumber but it might mean you're full of . . . You can't just read the part of the code you're most interested in and call it a day. All sections of the LDC relate to one another and you have to meet all of the standards. Not just the ones you like. You really need to hire a planning or engineering firm to do what you're trying to do. Here's why -

It looks like Polk does have an Urban Growth Boundary of sorts but they don't call it that. Instead they have "Urban Development Areas" and "Rural Development Areas."

Their use table is here:
https://library.municode.com/fl/polk...IRE511RD18-025

And it looks like Mobile/Manufactured are going to be allowed as Conditional Uses in otherwise low density areas

E.Conditional Uses
Uses listed as conditional may be established only after compliance with the specific conditions and procedures outlined in Chapter 3, Conditional Uses, and all applicable codes of Polk County and other governmental agencies.

C1-Conditional uses which are reviewed at the staff level through an existing permit procedure. The review process is a Level 1 Review.
C2-Conditional uses which are reviewed by the staff but involve multiple issues or departments. The review process is a Level 2 Review, and involves review of a site plan by the Development Review Committee.
C3-Conditional uses which are reviewed by the staff but involve multiple issues and potential off-site impacts. The review process is a Level 3 Review, and includes a site plan submittal for review by the Development Review Committee (DRC) and a public hearing before the Planning Commission (PC).
C4-Conditional uses which involve multiple issues and potential significant off-site impacts. These uses are reviewed by the DRC and include public hearings before the Planning Commission and BOCC. The procedure for this review is a Level 4 Review.

Basically everything except an individual unit is a C3 or C4 conditional use. What that means for you is that trying to do what you're talking about is going to take you a long time and be expensive. You're basically planning a subdivision and submitting all the relevant documents and going through the full approvals process that any developer has to go through. There are also a ton of conditions listed in Chapter 3 - and I wouldn't think of that as an exhaustive list. The Commission can put additional conditions on your project.

If I were you I would quietly find an engineer to work with while you look for a piece of land that is big enough for your needs and that would qualify you as C1 conditional use. As you split your lots make sure they conform to the site plan your engineer draws up. Do not tell anyone else what you're doing. I would do the first lot split before applying for a single permit. Permit each home individually. A few years later you can come back and split the lots again so by year 3 you have 4 lots. If the original lot is large enough, by year 6 you could have 8 lots. You just have to make sure there's right-of-way access and utilities available to each sub-parcel. That's why a site plan is important.

You'd be well within your rights, the neighbors can't throw a fit, you avoid the subdivision process, and you save a ton of money.