Snow removal for manufactured home communities: private streets, tight sites and older residents

Who plows the streets in a manufactured home community?

The community does. The streets inside a manufactured home community are private, and the Macomb County Department of Roads states that it does not maintain or have jurisdiction over private roads. See private road snow removal.

Michigan's manufactured housing rules (Mich. Admin. Code R 125.1101 and following) have no rule written about snow. The closest, R 125.1709, requires the community to keep internal roads, walkways and driveways in sound condition and every internal road serving occupied home sites passable. The rule was written about pavement, but in January, passable is a plowing question. This is general information, not legal advice.

Tenant notices and cleanup days work much as they do at an apartment complex. What differs is the layout, a network of private streets instead of a parking lot, and the residents: the CFPB reports that about a third of adults living in mobile homes nationwide are 60 or older.

What gets cleared first, and by when?

Put in writing what the community clears on each home site and what residents clear. Some residents cannot shovel safely; for their options at home, see snow removal for seniors.

How do fire trucks and ambulances get through?

Three state rules bear directly on winter access:

1. Dead ends. R 125.1920 requires dead-end internal roads to end in a turnaround from the International Fire Code and bans parking in the turning area. A snow pile in a turnaround blocks a fire truck as surely as a parked car, so turnarounds are no-stack zones.
2. Hydrants. R 125.1702a, the fire safety rule, states that parking on internal roads is prohibited within 15 feet of a hydrant. Dig hydrants out after every storm and never bury one with a windrow.
3. Site numbers. The same rule calls for every home site to be numbered and readable from the road. Keep windrows below the markers; an ambulance crew hunting for a number in the dark loses time.

R 125.1920 also calls for a 200-foot safe-sight distance at intersections, so keep corner piles low.

What about street parking and tight home sites?

The rules size community streets for parked cars: at least 21 feet wide with no parking, 31 feet with parallel parking on one side and 41 feet with parking on both sides (R 125.1920). Each home site gets two parking spaces, plus one visitor space for every three sites (R 125.1925 and R 125.1926). Windrows eat that margin. After a heavy storm, a street built for parking on one side may have room only for traffic.

Set a winter parking rule before the season, such as parking on one side only until the cleanup pass, much as cities do with snow emergency parking. Tell residents how they will hear about it.

Home sites leave no room for snow, and snow pushed off a street lands against skirting, steps and cars. Stack it at street ends (never in turnarounds), on common open space, on vacant sites the community approves and at visitor lot edges, away from hydrants, mailbox pads, intersections and drainage swales.

Who clears the cluster mailboxes?

Usually the community. The USPS Postal Operations Manual makes buying, installing and maintaining mail receptacles the customer's responsibility unless the Postal Service chooses to provide them, and says the customer is responsible for keeping the approach to the mailbox clear (632.11 to 632.14). A cluster box unit on community ground is not something residents can be expected to plow out.

Plow the pull-off so the carrier can reach the unit, shovel and treat the pad, and keep windrows off the parcel locker doors. Older residents walk to that pad in all weather, so recheck it after a thaw and a hard freeze.

What has to be staked at the lot lines?

Home sites have utilities at blade height near the street: electrical pedestals, gas or water meters, cable boxes and light posts. Add hydrants, speed bumps, street signs, the mailbox units and entrance islands. Stake them before the ground freezes and put them on the site map.

Gas meters need extra care. DTE Energy calls them a no-snow zone: clear them with a broom or by hand, never a shovel, never kick or hit them, never pile snow against them, and take care with snowblowers and plows. A windrow thrown off the street onto a meter is exactly what that guidance warns against.

Records and contract questions

Keep timestamped records of every visit and treatment, plus resident complaints and the office's own checks of mailbox pads and walks. See snow logs. Before signing for commercial snow removal, ask:

1. Which streets, turnarounds, hydrants and mailbox pads are in the scope, and in what order?
2. What is the trigger, and how many return visits in a long storm?
3. Who clears site parking pads and walks: the contractor, the community or residents?
4. Where are the stacking zones, and who approves vacant sites?
5. Are pedestals, meters, hydrants and speed bumps staked, and how is damage reported?
6. Can the office flag addresses with mobility needs or regular medical rides, without names?