Are "Tiny homes" allowed in St. Mary's county?

[zar]

I am curious as I've seen them go up for a rent online, and also St. Mary's college also did a tiny home building project, for homeless I suppose?

However according to county ordinances living in a "RV" full time is prohibited, and it was to my understanding that these were classified as RV's

 

[vraiblonde]

I think a tiny house would be classified like a mobile home.

 

[General Lee]

I am curious as I've seen them go up for a rent online, and also St. Mary's college also did a tiny home building project, for homeless I suppose?

However according to county ordinances living in a "RV" full time is prohibited, and it was to my understanding that these were classified as RV's

I don't believe its prohibited if its parked in a campground. Plenty of people living full time in RV's at for example, La Grande estates, Happyland, Dennis Point, etc.

 

[littlelady]

I do not understand why this would even be an issue. There are more important things happening. Now, if one does see an abundance of trash, and people being killed around the tiny house; that would be an issue. That aside. I love the tiny house series on HGTV. I would love to live in one. Less work.

 

[zar]

I think a tiny house would be classified like a mobile home.

Mobile homes are required to be set up on a foundation by a HUD installer in st. marys county
All new homes require a sprinkler system in st. mary's county (including mobile homes)
mobile homes are taxable as houses because they are "fixated"

A tiny home would seemingly avoid all of these regulations. Mobile home manufacturers sell "tiny homes" called "park models" which is classified as as RV's (no more than 399 sq ft) which is enough reason for the county to say "hey you aren't allowed to live in this"

Campground and Day or Boarding Camp. 12 a. General Standards: 13 (1) Site plan approval shall be required. 14 (2) Year-round residency within tents and recreational vehicles in campgrounds is prohibited.

No mobile recreational vehicle or camping trailer may be occupied for more han three consecutive months.

https://www.stmarysmd.com/docs/CurrentZO.pdf

121. Recreational Vehicles. 6 a. Accessory Standards: 7 (1) Recreational vehicles may not be occupied as permanent residences.

8 (2) In allowable zones, the property owner, his tenants or guests may make use of one camping or recreational trailer on the owner's lot subject to the following conditions:

(a) Use shall be on a parcel of 1 acre or more.
(b) The camping or recreational trailer may only be used on an intermittent basis by the aforesaid individuals for private recreational use and enjoyment of the owner's property, such as for camping or hunting.
(c) No person shall be entitled to reside in the recreational vehicle for more than seven consecutive nights.
(d) The camping or recreational trailer must be completely screened from the view of dwellings on adjacent lots by a fence or evergreen buffer. 19
(e) Each camping or recreational trailer shall be equipped with an authorized self-contained sewerage holding tank. (3) Recreational vehicles shall comply with the floodplain provisions of this 22 Ordinance.

https://www.stmarysmd.com/docs/CZO.pdf

 

[officeguy]

We call that a single-wide.

 

[Kyle]

I'm fairly certain St. Marys woundnt' allow these.

 

[LightRoasted]

If I may ...

I'm fairly certain St. Marys woundnt' allow these.

You gonna allow your neighbor tell you what you can or can not do?

 

[Gilligan]

No mobile recreational vehicle or camping trailer may be occupied for more han three consecutive months.

https://www.stmarysmd.com/docs/CurrentZO.pdf

121. Recreational Vehicles. 6 a. Accessory Standards: 7 (1) Recreational vehicles may not be occupied as permanent residences.

Wow..as previously noted there are several locations in St. Mary's that have permanent-resident RV sections, and have for a very long time. Dennis Point, Take It Easy, La Grande.. Beyond that, I know of MANY individual RVs scattered throughout the county that are lived in on permanent basis. Must be a case of "don't ask, don't tell" when it comes to enforcement?

 

[Kyle]

If I may ...
You gonna allow your neighbor tell you what you can or can not do?

 

[Goldenhawk]

Drive through ANY RV-friendly campground these days, and you'll see a few obviously permanent RVs that haven't moved in years. I think it's clear that the three-month zoning law is ignored. But then, so are plenty of other zoning laws, if we're being honest.

Take It Easy Campground has a monthly rate as the first thing on their "Camping Rates" web page, also listing sites available with cement pads. And the picture on that page shows an RV setup obviously intending to be there for a while. Their focus is clearly NOT the weekend transients.

Okay, so maybe the RV owners get in their cars and lock the trailer for a weekend once every three months... the law doesn't say what constitutes "consecutive", after all.

 

[officeguy]

Wow..as previously noted there are several locations in St. Mary's that have permanent-resident RV sections, and have for a very long time. Dennis Point, Take It Easy, La Grande.. Beyond that, I know of MANY individual RVs scattered throughout the county that are lived in on permanent basis. Must be a case of "don't ask, don't tell" when it comes to enforcement?

Most of those probably pre-date the zoning ordinance and wouldn't be permitted if someone tried to start one today.

 

[Gilligan]

Most of those probably pre-date the zoning ordinance and wouldn't be permitted if someone tried to start one today.

But how would that work? Let's say I decide to build a new campground; what would be "different" than the existing ones that would completely preclude anyone living in their RV year around? Would the county have some kind of routine inspection protocol?...I can't see it...

 

[Gilligan]

Drive through ANY RV-friendly campground these days, and you'll see a few obviously permanent RVs that haven't moved in years.

A nice campground we used to frequent up near Tower City PA had so many permanent residents that they had few full-hookup sites ever available for transients. And they had a yearly rate too.... Obviously, the zoning rules vary a lot from place to place.

 

[officeguy]

But how would that work? Let's say I decide to build a new campground; what would be "different" than the existing ones that would completely preclude anyone living in their RV year around? Would the county have some kind of routine inspection protocol?...I can't see it...

If you need a zoning variance or re-zoning to build your new campground, they may well write it into the conditions for the approval.

Now SMC doesn't have the roving teams of code inspectors (yet) that go around and look for items to ticket, those things tend to be complaint driven. If you have your 10 acre lot in the 7th district, nobody will rat you out to the county if you let your retarded cousin live in a travel trailer. Do the same thing in some hoyty-toyty beachfront community or on a 1/5th acre lot in a subdivision and you'll deal with county paperwork in a hurry.

 

[Gilligan]

We have a "tiny home" but we call it a cottage...

 

[Gilligan]

If you need a zoning variance or re-zoning to build your new campground, they may well write it into the conditions for the approval.

Yeah I could see that...they did that when I received the variance for my shop building; wrote in a bunch of use restrictions.

 

[officeguy]

Yeah I could see that...they did that when I received the variance for my shop building; wrote in a bunch of use restrictions.

Dont know what the enforcement mechanism for those restrictions would be. If someone complained about you using the shop for something outside of the goalposts, the county would probably start sending you lettters and cease&desist orders.

 

[Goldenhawk]

I think most zoning laws are meant to be protective, not prohibitive. By that I mean that while they discourage abuse in the first place, it's more important that they give people a legal means of complaining about abuse and giving the County teeth to do something about the abuse.

As long as Take It Easy's neighbors are cool with the situation, everyone is happy. If TIE gets out of control, the County has the authority to fix the situation.

 

[NorthBeachPerso]

We have a "tiny home" but we call it a cottage...

Yeah, but does your "cottage" have wheels? These woke "tiny houses" aren't really much more than dressed up camper trailers that your hipster nephew can park in your back yard and vampire electricity with an extension cord.

Build a 400 sq. ft. house on a foundation with well and septic and no one would say a word. Well, they might scratch their head over that size house on a 10 acre lot even if the rest of the land is for goose blinds.