Kenmore’s mobile home preservation rules survive court challenges

By Oliver Moffat

Legal challenges to Kenmore’s manufactured home preservation rules were dismissed last month, ending a long legal battle with landowners over an ordinance designed to protect low income households and seniors. 

A map shows the location of Kenmore’s six manufactured home park

Kenmore is home to nearly 300 manufactured homes - mostly located in six parks where residents rent the pad upon which their manufactured house sits. More than half of the households living in Kenmore’s manufactured homes are low income and two of the mobile home parks are reserved for senior citizens. 

In 2019, the Kenmore council adopted an ordinance to preserve Manufactured Housing Communities, preventing the properties from being redeveloped into more expensive housing and displacing current residents. 

Mobile home park landowners fought the ordinance, arguing it infringed on their property rights. 

After a long legal battle, the Growth Management Hearings Board upheld the ordinance earlier this year and last month the Superior Court of Thurston County dismissed an appeal to that ruling. The United States District Court Western District also dismissed a federal case alleging damages last month. 

To compensate mobile home park landowners for the loss of value to their property, Kenmore allows the park landowners to transfer “density credits” to developers of other sites. 

The two manufactured housing communities south of SR-522 will be preserved by Kenmore’s zoning rules indefinitely but the the four properties north of SR-522 could be up-zoned into higher density affordable housing in the future.