As the five-year mark of the Dixie Fire approaches, Plumas County is winding down one of its last emergency recovery measures: housing ordinances adopted after the Beckwourth Complex and Dixie fires.
The ordinances allowed residents displaced by the 2021 fires to live in RVs and mobile homes under relaxed land-use rules while hazardous debris was removed and homes were rebuilt. Starting this month, those exemptions have ended.
County leaders say it’s time to return to pre-fire regulations and transition people to permanent housing.
“This isn't about putting down a hammer and kicking people out of where they are,” said Mimi Hall, who serves as chair of the Plumas County Board of Supervisors. “It's about working together to provide them with the resources, connections, referrals that they need to not be in that situation.”
The expiration of the emergency ordinances means year-round living in RVs or mobile homes isn’t allowed in unincorporated areas of Plumas County, except for in registered parks.
Plumas County Disaster Recovery Coordinator Keli Ward said the county is working to identify the people who will be affected by the changes, and that the county plans to take a soft approach to enforcement.
“Initial steps will be a courtesy letter,” Ward said.
The letters will point residents to resources, including available public housing in Greenville, she said. They’ll go out before the county begins code enforcement or issues notices of violation.
Ward said code enforcement hasn’t set a date to begin issuing citations. She said some parcels now being surveyed were already on the county’s radar because of past complaints.
“I think there were concerns that people from outside the area, so not necessarily displaced persons, might be taking advantage of the relaxed regulations,” she said.
Still, some residents have spoken out at recent meetings, saying people who were displaced by the fires may still have nowhere to go.
Survivors of the Camp Fire in Paradise and Bear Fire/North Complex in Berry Creek went through a similar phase-out of emergency housing in Butte County.
