Couple asks for decision on manufactured home

An attorney for the owners of a Goni Road manufactured home argues Carson City officials placed unfair occupancy conditions on the home.

At least one city condition for manufactured homes more restrictive than state law, according to attorney Michael Matuska.

Planning commissioners will consider today Jack and Margaret Ruckman's request that they be able to move into their home.

The city's requirement that a manufactured home roof be "consistent with the subdivision phase or plat" is too subjective, according to Matuska, allowing city officials to be biased against the addition of a manufactured home to a traditional, stick-built house neighborhood.

A law passed during the 1999 Legislature allowed the Ruckmans to put their new brown, triplewide manufactured home on their Goni Road lot.

In January the addition of the home to Goni Road, the first test locally of Senate Bill 323, was met with dismay by the Ruckmans' neighbors. The law allows the addition of manufactured homes as long as they are compatible with a neighborhood.

"The Ruckmans' house is comparable (and in some cases superior) to the other houses in the neighborhood in terms of quality and design," Michael Matuska wrote in a letter to city officials. "A fair review of this project should dispel the negative preconceived image of manufactured homes."

The Ruckmans have been at odds with city officials and their Goni Road neighbors for about six months over the manufactured home. The couple has been renting a home while waiting for a decision in the matter.

Carson City planning officials stopped the Ruckmans' move into the home because, among other issues, the pitch of the roof, which city officials say is not steep enough and will have to be fixed.

Matuska argued the Goni neighborhood has a variety of roof slopes, and if it were such an important issue would be noted somewhere in the neighborhood covenant, codes and restrictions.

Jack Ruckman said previously the city had its chance to express concerns over the house's construction, all of which could have been expressed then.

Since January, no agreement that could allow the Ruckmans to move into their home has been reached.

City officials did broach the couple with the idea of creating a landscaping plan to mitigate the view of the home. However, the idea was rejected because other area residents are pushing for nothing short of full compliance in relation to the roof.

If you go:

What: Carson City Planning Commission

When: 3:30 p.m., Wednesday

Where: the Community Center's Sierra Room, 851 E. William St.