Slidell puts brakes on modular home sales

With a 5-2 vote, the Slidell City Council passed an ordinance Tuesday night imposing a six-month moratorium on the sale and construction of modular homes within city limits.

Modular homes are brought onto a site by trailer in parts and then put together. There are five modular home dealers in Slidell, and they will be affected by the moratorium.

Council members who voted for the moratorium said it was necessary while the city drafts its master plan for development over the next 20 years.

“We want to see how modular homes affect new zoning rules,” Council President Raymond Canada said. “Some modular homes are appropriate, some are not.”

Councilman-at-large Landon Cusimano said the current city code is “too gray” on the issue of modular homes.

“The moratoriums gives us a chance to make decisions on the issue,” Cusimano said.

However, council member Kim Harbison said there is no need for a moratorium. She claims the homes meet the requirements of the city’s building code.

“If they are legal and meet our codes, why is there a moratorium?” Harbison wondered.

She insists that despite the look of modular homes, they are not trailers, but real houses.

“People need to know the difference between trailers and modular homes,” Harbison said.

She also said the moratorium was “rotten timing” for one modular home company, New Gulf Coast Homes, that has several modular homes on display next to a shopping center in the 1500 block of Gause Boulevard. They had recently set up shop and have applied for a conditional use permit to operate. Now, Harbison said the new business might suffer because of the moratorium.

The owners at New Gulf Coast Homes would not comment on the moratorium when contacted Wednesday.

The ordinance passed 5-2 with Harbison and Councilman Bill Borchert voting against it. Councilman Warren Crockett was absent from the meeting.

In other business the council:

Approved the re-appointment of Mary Lou Hilts to a seven-year term on the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Voted by ballot to elect Andy Prude to the Northshore Harbor Center Board of Directors to fill the unexpired four-year term of Gwen Wade, who recently resigned. Prude and Martin Bruno were both nominated. Prude got five votes, and Bruno had two votes.

Voted to change Council Rules of Procedure so there must be a unanimous vote by the council to accept additions to the council agenda after it has been printed. This was done to be in accordance with state law.