County removes 1,100-square-foot minimum for manufactured homes, defaults to HUD and building code

On Sept. 1 the Utah County Commission voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance deleting a roughly 40-year-old minimum dwelling-size requirement that had required at least 1,100 square feet for manufactured homes. The planning commission had recommended deleting the section, and staff said the change would defer to HUD certification and prevailing building-code minimums.

Community development staff traced the requirement’s origin to the early 1980s when the county sought to keep single-wide manufactured homes out of certain zones; commissioners said modern housing trends (including small ‘tiny’ homes) and affordability concerns motivated the change. Bryce Armstrong, community development staff, told the board the smallest HUD-certified manufactured home today is roughly 320 square feet and that removing the county minimum would not eliminate building-code or HUD standards required for habitability.

Commissioners discussed equity and housing affordability before approving the amendment 3–0. The measure replaces the county minimum with an approach that enforces HUD and building-code standards for health and safety while removing a local square-footage floor that staff and some commissioners described as potentially discriminatory against lower-income residents.