SHELTON — Since the 1940s, many have called home the manufactured mobile homes that sit on Bridgeport Avenue in the Fairchild Heights mobile home park.

Predating zoning, the park includes more than 100 manufactured homes on the 13-acre site at 804 Bridgeport Ave. And later this month the Planning and Zoning Commission will likely grant the park a certificate of non-conformity that limits the number of units to 139.

The park is one of the only spots that dates back before the city's zoning regulations were instituted. The certificate outlines the conditions at the property and documents such things as the number of units there. The commission recently decided to pursue the certificate because a number of issues have arisen over the past year at the park, including questions of how many units are allowed there.

The certificate acknowledges the site's non-conformity to zoning regulations that would not support such a high-density use without special approvals such as are used with planned development districts. It also sets the number of home sites that the city and the commission officially recognize there.

At its last meeting the commission tabled the application in order to get a legal opinion from the city's corporation counsel as to the legality of approving such a certificate. That opinion came out in favor of the commission intention, Zoning Administrator Rick Schultz said, and it will again take up the issue at its next meeting May 15 at 7 p.m. at City

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Hall. At the park's inception, it contained 151 housing sites, but that number of late dropped to 139, not all of which are occupied. Residents of the park had been complaining that they feared that the park's owners intended to go back to the higher number, but park owner Jeffery Doolan has agreed to the lower number, Schultz said.

To increase the number of units, Doolan would have to apply to the commission for permission, Schultz said. "You can always come back and ask for more," he said.

Doolan could not be reached for comment.

Under the approved certificate, any new homes installed at the park would require approvals from both the Planning and Zoning and Inland Wetlands departments, Schultz said, as well as from the Water Pollution Control Authority.

Residents also would have to apply for approvals to install propane tanks and sheds and for any remodeling work to the units.

Commissioner Leon J. Sylvester made a motion to deny the certificate, not because he disagrees with Schultz's recommendation, but because, he said, after driving through the park he understands the neighbor's objections to leaving open the possibility of more units. His motion failed, but the commission agreed to table the issue in order to wait on the corporation counsel opinion.