County, landowner at odds over mobile home

The way Brenda Johnson sees it, she asked, received permission from Columbia County and moved her sister's manufactured home to her plot of land near Appling.

"I'm sorry if we did everything right and just like we were told," she said.

County Commissioner Frank Spears sees the situation similarly, but that still doesn't make it right - especially when there are two mobile homes on 2.49 acres.

"This county messed up," Spears said. "We made an error."

Now, officials say the second mobile home has to go - and they are willing to pay for part of the move.

"None of us can turn back the clock now," county commission Chairman Barry Fleming said. "What we can do is try to make it whole."

Johnson said she wasn't sure whether the county would offer enough money. Last year, officials offered $6,000.

"You can't put a price on mental anguish," she said. "What we've been through is uncalled for."

The battle over the home began last year, when planning officials OK'd putting the second structure on the land. County ordinances allow mobile homes in residential agricultural zones - which include Johnson's property on Langston Drive in Appling - but only on lots 2.5 acres or larger.

In this case, officials aren't fretting over the .01 acre difference: they say two mobile homes on 2.5 acres isn't allowed.

"If we approve this, then we've set a precedent for all the people we've said 'No' to," Spears said.

Bill Coleman - a lawyer who is representing Johnson - said the second home could be considered an auxiliary structure, which is allowed under the law. County planners, however, said the law does not apply to manufactured homes. Plus, the second manufactured home was actually a little larger than the other home on the property.

Those nuances should be made clearer in the law, Coleman said.

"I think these regulations should be clear enough that a reasonable person could read this and know what can or can't go on the property," he said.