By Tabitha Evans Moore | EDITOR & PUBLISHER

LYNCHBURG, Tenn. — Affordable housing is an issue that small, rural communities like Lynchburg are facing across the U.S. It’s an especially hot button topic here in Tennessee where the cost of housing has increased by as much as 63 percent in the last five years, according to 2025 Tennessee Real Estate Market Overview performed by the website Steadily.

Between March 2020 and March 2023, median home prices in Tennessee rose from just over $250,000 to $360,000 – a 44 percent increase in three years. By January 2025, that median sale price reached approximately $383,500, marking a 5.3 percent year-over-year increase.

Tennessee wages also haven’t kept pace with the significant rise in housing costs. According to Axios, between 2019 and 2022, Tennessee’s median household income saw a slight increase from approximately $64,820 to $65,250. However, when adjusted for inflation, this growth is minimal.

Some developers see the gap as an opportunity to create rental properties, but the answer for Moore County is not trailer parks or manufactured home communities, according to several locals who appeared before the Metro Planning and Zoning Commission on Tuesday during the meeting’s public comment period.

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“Needs to be tightened up.”

Two citizens appeared before the Commission requesting that the Commission re-evaluate and tighten up requirements in advance of what they perceive to be a potential influx into the county.

“It’s a little bit vague,” stated local Kevin Wells, referring to the existing ordinances that address the development standards for mobile home parks inside Moore County. “I’m not against anybody doing what they want with their own property but when you move more than one trailer on it doesn’t make sense to me that it’s not a trailer park. Surrounding counties, like Bedford County, don’t have any new trailer parks coming in. They ran them off.”

Current Metro ordinances state that landowners need to have a minimum of 10 mobile homes to be considered a mobile home park and that those 10 homes must occupy a minimum of five acres.

“Moore County doesn’t have strict enough guidelines as far as the Planning Commission goes,” Wells stated adding that Moore County had become a funnel for potential trailer parks from surrounding counties that discouraged them through their zoning ordinances.

“I’m not talking about someone, if you own it and you’ve got a family member or something, as long as you’re not drawing income from it,” Wells added.

Metro Planning Chair Dexter Golden stated that mobile homes located on a public road do not qualify as a mobile home park and instead fall under standard agricultural or residential zoning requirements for building lot sizes.

In February of last year, the Metro Council increased the minimum agricultural building lots sizes from one acre to five acres, per the Metro Planning Commission’s recommendation.

Under the new ordinance, anyone purchasing agricultural land in Moore County who wished to build on lots smaller than five acres would be required to request rezoning from A-1 or A-2 to residential. That process flows through the Metro Council and currently requires three separate approvals and a public hearing.

To read our complete coverage of that meeting, click here.

With those new guidelines in mind, Golden explained the potential legal muddy waters of treating mobile homes differently than site-built homes.

“If they have but a public street on each lot, they’re not technically a trailer park until they use one entry to access it,” he explained comparing the situation to site-built spec homes potential located on the same parcel of land.

“We can’t really say that’s too many, as far as the rental property goes,” Chair Golden explained. “I one hundred percent see what you’re saying, but I don’t know how we might stop just trailers. If we apply those rules to trailers, it would also apply to site-built houses used as rental property. I don’t know if you can legally stop it on trailers and not site-built homes. So, you kind of get into a real sticky situation.”

Infrastructure remains a concern

Golden did state that just like in the case of subdivisions, current infrastructure remains a big consideration.

“If somebody wanted to rezone from agriculture to residential, it might not be the right time if the infrastructure is not there. In that case, they could put one trailer per five acres and again, still need to abut a public road.”

At that point another local, Karl Pyrdom spoke up concerned about water pressure in the area in Moore County that borders both Lincoln and Bedford County.

“I live basically in the same neighborhood, one road over and our water pressure has dropped from the time it’s been put in. It’s not what it used to be,” he stated. “I’m on the tail end of the line, and if they add very many more taps out there, I may be left with nothing.  They’ve (referring to the Metro Utility Department) have denied any more houses on top of that ridge because they don’t have the water.”

Golden then stated that he agreed that development shouldn’t be a burden to the people who already live in that area.

Fellow member Scott Fruehauf also reminded the group that multiple parcels on a single tract would likely require rezoning from agricultural to residential unless the unnamed property homeowner planned to follow the subdivision guidelines.

Golden agreed.

“And again, I don’t usually try to press too hard on that second residence on a single parcel for a family member. I try not to ask those questions, but if he attempts to put the third mobile home on there, then of course he would be outside of what he could do, unless he got one lot zoned off for that third one, and it had to abut a public street. Then that’s when it would come into a trailer park, and that’s when the rules would change, and we would follow subdivision rules.”

“I don’t see where it benefits Moore County,” Wells stated. “I understand that your property should be able to do what you want to with it. If someone wants to put a hog barn or chicken barn, I ain’t got no problem with that. I live in the country.”

At that point, Golden et all agreed to take a second look at the existing ordinance and make a recommendation to send to the Metro Council based on Wells and Pyrdom’s comments. Those changes would require two separate readings and votes by the Council – a process that could take up to three months.

“I’d just like to say, I think it does need to be addressed. It needs to be tied up,” he said. “We just don’t want to open the county up to lawsuits.”

The Metro Council meets the third Monday of each month and will meet in May on Monday, May 19 at 6:30 p.m. at the American Legion Building. The Metro Planning Commission meets the first Tuesday of each month. Their next meeting will take place on Tuesday, June 3 at 5:30 p.m. in the basement of the County Building. State law requires both to allow public comments prior to the start of the meeting. •

{The Lynchburg Times is a non-partisan, locally owned community newspaper located in Lynchburg, Tennessee. We publish new stories daily as well as breaking news as it happens. It’s run by a Moore County native and Tulane University-educated journalist with over 20 years of experience. It’s also one of the few women-owned newspapers in the state. We are supported by both readers and community partners who believe in independent journalism for the common good. You can support us by clicking here. }