SCARBOROUGH — The Ordinance Committee is looking to repeal and replace Scarborough’s ordinance related to mobile and modular homes as well as inconsistent language about these types of housing in the zoning ordinance.

Ordinance Chapter 500: Relating to Trailers and Trailer Camps was first adopted by the town in 1944, which discusses unit and layout requirements.

A state statute now exists on manufactured housing, essentially a nondiscriminatory statute for mobile and modular homes that preempts municipal regulation, said Phil Saucier, municipal attorney during the Sept. 16 ordinance committee meeting.

“This is outdated,” he said of the town’s ordinance language. “Just like most ordinances, it had a purpose of the time, and there were likely some areas in town or some structures in town that were potentially unsafe for human habitation and this was the town’s way of trying to regulate.”

State statute does not allow municipalities to treat mobile or modular homes like a different type of housing unit when thinking of “single-family housing,” Saucier said. If a district is zoned for single-family homes, manufactured housing is included.

“There’s a manufactured board at the state level, so for example, they’re exempt from building code because they’ve already been reviewed by the state,” he said. “But also as it relates to zoning, there’s certain restrictions. We have to allow any modular home that meets the state construction standards to be allowed in all other zones where single family uses are allowed.”

Right now, Scarborough’s zoning ordinance and Chapter 500 both have contradicting language regarding manufactured homes, he said.

Repealing and replacing Chapter 500 may be necessary, Saucier said.

The current ordinance attempts to regulate “too much,” said Ken Johnson, councilor and committee member.

Jay Chace, town planner, said this would be a good opportunity to address the zoning ordinance’s wording about manufactured housing as well.

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