BY WESLEY YOUNG
SALISBURY POST

A Rowan County commissioner said this morning that public demand led him to call Monday for a temporary moratorium on the placement of mobile homes on newly created lots.

Monday, the Rowan County Board of Commissioners passed the temporary ban, designed to last 90 days or until new rules governing mobile homes can go into effect.

‘‘We had been hearing from a lot of folks that there are more and more mobile home subdivisions popping up,’’ said Commissioner Steve Blount, who introduced the motion for the temporary ban.

The temporary ban will last until the county can create new rules that regulate the formation of mobile home subdivisions.

The moratorium will not prevent people from putting mobile homes on existing lots, nor will it stop people from putting mobile homes on lots for family members under the special rules that govern those cases.

But the moratorium will stop people from creating new subdivisions designed for mobile homes, at least until the board puts in rules that are now under development in the Rowan County Planning Board.

A spokesman for Citizens for Responsible Growth, a Cleveland area group asking for growth controls, praised the county board’s action.

‘‘I think that is great news,’’ said Andy Hinson, vice chairman of the citizen group. Hinson said he’s ‘‘a bit surprised the county moved in this direction.’’

‘‘We hope we have made some effect on it,’’ he said. ‘‘We like to think we have started the ball rolling and it will continue to roll.’’

Blount said the Cleveland-area group’s members haven’t been the only people calling for mobile home controls.

‘‘This has been going on at least a year from south Rowan,’’ Blount said. ‘‘And then (we have) this group from west Rowan ... people are more and more concerned about large subdivisions put up next to them.’’

The vote for the moratorium was 4-1, with Commissioner Dave Rowland the only one voting against. Rowland said after the vote that he does not like moratoriums.

It appears that when the moratorium expires, mobile home subdivisions will be regulated by new ‘‘overlay’’ zoning districts that specifically govern mobile homes in areas where residential housing is ordinarily allowed.

Anyone wanting to put mobile homes on newly-created lots will have to apply for the overlay. What that means is that neighbors of the proposed development will be notified that a mobile home subdivision is proposed. The county will be required to have a public hearing so that people can make comments. And the county Board of Commissioners will have to approve the zoning overlay before the mobile homes can start going in.

Blount said the purpose of the new ‘‘overlay’’ will be to allow the county to better control where the mobile homes go. In areas where there is no opposition, Blount suggested, the approval might be easy to get. But in other areas, the board may find that the mobile home subdivision wouldn’t fit in well with the neighborhood.

Blount said the overlay would also allow the county to approve mobile home subdivisions by requiring extra development conditions – such as putting in screening.

Neither the moratorium nor the proposed new rules would have any effect on existing properties. They would only apply to newly-created properties.