City council updates manufactured homes bylaw

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The city is approving a bylaw to “harmonize” existing municipal legislation with the BC Building Code. 

During the July 28th meeting of the City of Fort St. John council, the new bylaw was approved regarding manufactured homes, which is defined as modular and mobile homes by the B.C. government.

While a new bylaw, once fully adopted by council the Manufactured Home Park bylaw will replace the existing Factory-Built bylaw adopted in 2019, and ensures “greater consistency” with the Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act and BC Building Code. 

In the report to council which accompanied the bylaw, staff cited the Fort St. John Housing Needs Report conducted in 2024 as one of the reasons behind adjusting local legislation around manufactured housing. 

“According to [the report], median income households could afford row housing, apartments, and manufactured homes but single-detached, duplex, triplex or fourplex homes may be unattainable,” staff said. 

“This bylaw aims to provide clear direction to developers as to the Manufactured Home Park development requirements and to better align with city bylaws and provincial legislation.”

On July 15th, the city held an open house on the prospective bylaw with seven residents attending. 

The new bylaw clarifies possible misinterpretations from the Factory-Built bylaw including added definitions for ‘internal lot line,’ ‘manufactured home site’ and ‘carport.’ 

Staff also included an exemption for attached garages and carports to clarify that such ‘detached accessory’ buildings cannot sit in front of the home, and specified the new bylaw will only apply to homes built after the bylaw is adopted into law. 

Council approved the bylaw and gave it its first, second and third reading, which are required before any piece of legislation can be adopted.

The bylaw will re-appear in a future council meeting to be adopted.

To read the full bylaw report, which outlines all the changes, see below.