Town of Helena v. Country Mobile Homes, Inc.

• Decision Date: 15 August 1980
• Citation: 387 So.2d 162
• Parties: The TOWN OF HELENA, Alabama, a Municipal Corporation v. COUNTRY MOBILE HOMES, INC., a corporation, et al. 79-258.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 162

387 So.2d 162

The TOWN OF HELENA, Alabama, a Municipal Corporation v. COUNTRY MOBILE HOMES, INC., a corporation, et al.

79-258.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

Aug. 15, 1980.

Conrad M. Fowler, Jr. of Wallace, Ellis, Head & Fowler, Columbiana, for appellant.

Richard W. Bell, Pelham, for appellees.

EMBRY, Justice.

This appeal is from a judgment, adverse to plaintiff The Town of Helena and favorable to defendants Country Mobile Homes and Joseph Carrier, holding that a structure assembled or installed on a building site in Helena was not a mobile home and therefore not in violation of a zoning ordinance of the Town. We affirm.

Issue

Under the facts of the case was the subject structure a mobile home within the definition of the Helena zoning ordinance?

Facts

There was in force and effect in Helena a zoning ordinance which contained the following provisions:

"ARTICLE 111 DEFINITIONS

"34. Mobile Home. A detached unit for commercial, residential, or industrial purposes designed for transportation after fabrication on streets or highways on its own wheels or on flated (sic) or other trailers and arriving at the site where it is to be occupied complete and ready for occupancy or use except for occupancy or use except for minor and incidential (sic) unpacking and assembly operations, foundations, connections to utilities, and the like. A travel trailer is not to be considered as a mobile home."

"ARTICLE V GENERAL REGULATIONS

"Sec. 17. Mobile Homes

"1. Except as provided in Article XIX all mobile homes shall be parked in authorized mobile home parks.

"2. Except as provided in Article XIX mobile homes shall not be permitted on individual lots and shall not be considered as single family dwellings."

After a trial ore tenus, where the testimony was in sharp conflict and during which the trial court viewed the building site and structure, the following findings of fact were made:

"A. That the structure being constructed by the defendant, Country Mobile Homes, Inc., a corporation, and Joseph Carrier, is a modular home and not a mobile home. From the personal view by the Court of the structure it is found that the structure appears to be constructed with the same or similar materials that are used in the construction of other homes within the immediate area of the structure in question.

"B. That the construction of the foundation, electrical connections, and heating system are substantially the same as those of other homes in the area of the site of the construction of the structure in question and that more than 'minor' and incidental unpacking and assembly operations are necessary to be performed prior to the home being suitable for human habitation.

"C. That the structure in question is a modular home and that said modular home is placed upon the concrete block foundation (said concrete block foundation being similar to the foundation of other homes in the immediate area of this modular home) and that it is a permanent structure. Further, that in order to remove said modular home from the foundation would require a substantial number of hours of work and construction to remove the home from the foundation.

"D. It is the further finding of fact by the Court that this is a modular home as differentiated from a mobile home described in Section 34 of the Town of Helena's zoning ordinances in that the modular home is not complete and ready for occupancy or use except for minor and incidential (sic) unpacking and assembly operations, foundations, connections to utilities and lights.

"E. That the Town of Helena by and through its employees were (sic) informed by the defendants, Country Mobile Homes, Inc., a corporation, and Joseph Carrier, that the structure to be constructed on said building site was a modular home and that construction of said modular home would be accomplished at a location other than the building site in Helena, Alabama. Further, that plans and specifications defining and exhibiting the mode of construction of said modular home were supplied to the employees of the Town of Helena, Alabama, prior to the initiation of any construction on the building site in the Town of Helena, Alabama, and prior to the issuance of any building permit for the structure to be located on the building site in the Town of Helena, Alabama. It is the further finding of the Court that the defendants, Country Mobile Homes, Inc. and Joseph Carrier, acted in reliance of action of the Town of Helena, Alabama and expended sums of money for labor and materials for the construction of the structure to be located on the building site in the Town of Helena, Alabama."

These findings are amply supported by the evidence.

The evidence shows that the structure, subject of this litigation, was being installed or assembled on a site in a subdivision which contains no restrictive covenants applicable to homes situated in it. Therefore, if not prohibited by the provisions of the zoning ordinance set out above, there is no impediment to defendants' structure being located in that subdivision in Helena. We point out that the exhibits which are photographs of the subject structure and other structures in the subdivision disclose that defendants' structure resembles the other structures, which the evidence shows to be conventional "stick-build" homes, rather than what is commonly considered a mobile home. Also, we note that the structure contains approximately 1776 square feet of floor space with three bedrooms and two full baths, and costs concerning the structure expended to date of filing of this action, at which time...