Campground Renting Sheds to Marcellus Shale Gas/Oil Workers!?

[twistr2002]

Hello fellow inspectors,

I am a Building Code Official from north central Pennsylvania, home of all the marcellus shale oil and gas work. Lately campgrounds in our local area have been buying/building small cabins on used mobile home frames/skids and have been placing them on their lots for rent to the transient gas workers, without municipality approval and without a UCC Permit. They also have been renting regular RVs, but that's not my main concern as they are regulated by the DMV. Basically what I would like to is if there are any regulations out there for renting these makeshift cabins on frames/skids. These were built with no attention to the code at all.I would look at them as an R2, which would mean that they have to be sprinklered, and built to IBC. Most of these are not short term rentals, they are being rented and lived in for months at a time.

I copied this from my post on inspectionnews.net,

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Matt Erb

BCO, RCI

Erb Building Inspections

Lawrenceville, PA

 

[Coug Dad]

Welcome to the board. Your answer is probably PA specific so hopefully some of the PA members will chime in.

 

[Gene Boecker]

Welcome to the discussion board twister!

As one of the non-inspectors on this board let me be among the first to say hello.

I'd say that if they kept the wheels on them or mounted the mobile home on frames like what's done at the "trailer lot" then its still outside the code's domain since they are treated as vehicles and regulated under the DMV purview. The way I've seen these addressed in different areas is to address the application under zoning and as part of the property maintenance code. You should probably call over to Harrisburg to see if they have any experience with this set up and use that as precedence for your actions.

Last I checked there was nothing in the building codes about rental vehicles. I'd see what they need to do to keep it classified as such or else they need to meet the R-2 provisions as you say.

 

[twistr2002]

Wouldn't there be something to do with the commercial business using these for the public to rent as houseing. (not really talking about the listed Recreational Vehicles more so about the lawnmower sheds converted to cabins) In my opinion these sheds are really no different than a motel with individual buildings for each unit. Nowadays pretty much anything can be and is moved no matter its size or difficulty.

I think that I should be able to post the cabin with an Order to Vacate, and then make the business owner follow the process that should have been followed in the first place. If this was done first, I would not have the problem of these illeagally occupied commercial structures. One of the municipality's supervisors brought this campground to our attention, so its not something that i can put to the back burner. Anymore help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

 

[Alias]

First - welcome to the board twistr.

Check with the state on rules and regs. Here in CA, RV's, MH, etc. fall under the auspices of HCD - Housing & Community Development. Feds might also have a say in this use. The key is that they are constructing a different unit on an existing chassis that probably was not designed by the manufactured housing/RV industry for the new use.

How about hitting them with the International Property Maintenance Code? Does the site have the capacity to service the units? Electrical, plumbing (septic anyone?), water, trash services, etc.

Check your zoning laws. Are second, third, fourth........'living quarters' allowed? We have restricitons as to the number of secondary units (granny flats), manufactured units (age), lot coverage, etc.

Does your jurisdiction require business licenses?

Sometimes you just have to be very creative in dealing with unusual circumstances!

Sue, where the west still lives.............

 

[mtlogcabin]

Most campgrounds are regulated by some AHJ. It might be zoning that only allows a specific number of cabins, RV sites and tent sites. Health department may regulate the number based on sewer capacity if on a septic system. Check around 1st you may not have a dog in this fight if they are not allowed by all regulating bodies.

 

[FredK]

Different tack here.

If it's not an RV then it falls under the IRC here. We don't really care who owns or rents them just like any other SFR. Keeps things a lot simpler.

Other dogs with some say here are health, tax, and zoning here. Zoning records show setbacks and site plans which they check before turning the permit over to us. Some parks were allowed only "trailer or RV" spaces and some allowed both RV and manufactured homes. Park model fall into the RV group. That said what is shown as a "Lot or space" with the required setbacks doesn't mean it looks the same in the field when the setbacks don't work, then all heck breaks loose. We measure between the units double the setback if ok will approve the site otherwise someone's in trouble. They can argue on what they size of space they are paying for until they are blue in the face, it either works or it doesn't. We have over 30-40 listed parks and untold "unlisted ones" of questionable conformity. The unlisted sooner or later need more electrical work or someone complains and the "cleanup" starts. So far we remove 1 or so a year. Ain't fast or pretty but it slowly weeds out the questionable one.

As for driving by and looking for violations we quit doing that years ago. Even today if we went into a "park" looking for violation we could be writing violations for a month or more and may not get out of the park. Now we get them when a unit moves in or someone complains.

Welcome aboard.

 

[Gene Boecker]

Fred, I don't think it would be the IRC, if a code applies here. The "structure" is on a campground and rented out. If I was going to permit a KOA cabin, it would be as an R-2 occupancy or maybe a U occupancy. Personally I don;t see a lot of sprinklers in those 200 SF cabins so there must be another way to address those types of items.

 

[cda]

Assume they are under your ahj

So tell them to get a building permit and see what happens

Any zoning or similar laws that can be enforced ??

 

[Coug Dad]

This reminds me of discussions many years ago when farmers tried to provide temporary housing for migrant workers out in the fields. Many workers were sleeping in thier cars or in tents so some farmers wanted to build shelters to provide better temporary housing. However, building code requirements kicked in and made offering the shelters unaffordable. I think these issues will become more common as people travel to where the jobs are and need some type of temporary housing.

 

[Jobsaver]

http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/028/chapter19/chap19toc.html

May check here for state regs on campgrounds.

 

[Yikes]

I believe that Pennsylvania is on the IBC, correct? If so, than any structure (such as those mobile homes on skids) that is not otherwise regulated as a motor vehicle would qualify as a "temporary structure" under IBC 3103 if in "erected" for less that 180 days. It would also have to comply with the fire code. a permit would be required if it is larger than 120 SF or used by more than 10 persons. If it is there longer than 120 days, it needs a regular building permit. Even if it is a modular/prefab structure, if it is there longer than 180 days, they need a permit for the foundation/anchoring. If it is workforce housing, there may be accessibility issues as well.

Even if it is 100% motor homes, the planning department may have jurisdiction via the zoning code (how and where to park RVs, boats, etc. on a residential lot).

In the city of LA, I once had a project that was construction trailer offices on a landfill (former gravel pits). The trailers were "permanent" in that this landfill would take 20 years to fill up. At the same time, they were "temporary", because they would move every 3-5 years to accommodate the changing nature of the landfill.

The code solution was a "alternate materials, methods' code modification to allow the definition of "temporary" to be defined as 15 years, subject to certain conditions. Those conditions were basically everything necessary to provide a safe and sanitary environment acceptable to the city and neighbors.