26392 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 91 /Tuesday, May 12, 1998 / Proposed Rules

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND

URBAN DEVELOPMENT

24 CFR Part 3280

[Docket No. FR–4271–A–02]

RIN 2502–AH05

Manufactured Home Construction and

Safety Standards: Metal Roofing;

Advance Notice of Proposed

Rulemaking

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant

Secretary for Housing-Federal Housing

Commissioner, HUD.

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed

rulemaking.

SUMMARY: Elsewhere in today’s Federal

Register, the Department is publishing

an Interpretative Bulletin (IB) on roofing

requirements for manufactured homes

designed to be sited in high wind areas.

That IB reiterates the Department’s

current policy as it addresses questions

that have arisen concerning: Whether

manufacturers that design their

products using the wind pressures

specified in a table in the Manufactured

Home Construction and Safety

Standards must provide roof sheathing

under metal roofing; and the

appropriateness of the testing of metal

roofing that has been done under

current regulations. By this advance

notice of proposed rulemaking, the

Department is providing an opportunity

for interested persons to make

recommendations regarding any

changes in the table with respect to

roofing requirements for manufactured

homes designed to be sited in high wind

areas. The Department will review any

comments received in response to this

advance notice and consider them in

making a determination whether to

revise the applicable Federal standards

and regulations.

DATES: Comment Due Date: July 13,

1998.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are

invited to submit comments regarding

this advance notice of proposed

rulemaking to the Regulations Division,

Room 10276, Office of General Counsel,

Department of Housing and Urban

Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW,

Washington, DC 20410–0500.

Comments should refer to the above

docket number and title. A copy of each

comment submitted will be available for

public inspection and copying during

regular business hours at the above

address. Facsimile (FAX) comments are

not acceptable.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

David R. Williamson, Director, Office of

Consumer and Regulatory Affairs,

Department of Housing and Urban

Development, 451 Seventh Street, S.W.,

Room 9156, Washington, DC 20410,

telephone: (202) 708–6401 (this is not a

toll-free number). For hearing- and

speech-impaired persons, this number

may be accessed via TTY (text

telephone) by calling the Federal

Information Relay Service at 1–800–

877–8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Prospective commenters should review

Interpretative Bulletin I–2–98 published

elsewhere in today’s Federal Register

for an explanation of the Department’s

interpretation of the standard in 24 CFR

3280.305(c)(1)(ii)(B), which includes the

Table of Design Wind Pressures

(‘‘Table’’), as applied to metal roofing in

wind zones II and III. In that IB, HUD

interprets the standard to require every

design for manufactured housing for

high wind areas to include roof

sheathing or alternative roof material

that performs like sheathing in resisting

the wind pressures specified in the

Table, whenever the Table is used as the

basis for qualifying the design.

If the Department receives or develops

information that indicates the standard

codified in 24 CFR 3280.305(c)(1)(ii)(B)

should be revised, the Department may

propose revisions for further review and

public comment in subsequent

rulemaking. To ensure that all interested

parties are given access to any advice

the Department receives on this subject,

a public docket has been opened.

Comments received in response to this

advance notice will be included in the

public docket for inspection and

copying.

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 3535(d) and 5424.

Dated: April 29, 1998.

Art Agnos,

Acting General Deputy Assistant Secretary

for Housing.

[FR Doc. 98–12342 Filed 5–11–98; 8:45 am]

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