Recreational vehicle (RV) owners can continue with their usual parking within the City of Cold Lake after council defeated a motion to tighten up parking restrictions.
After much debate, and hearing from several residents, councillors voted 4-3 to keep RV parking bylaws as is at their March 22 meeting.
“The RV bylaw (had) great discussion on council and great input from the community,” said Mayor Craig Copeland. “We had good debate and certainly a lot of passion in wanting to see some changes in the bylaws for RVs. Council defeated the (proposed) bylaw as presented.”
City council started looking at the land use bylaw (LUB) regarding RV parking after the city received a number of related complaints over the summer of 2015. As a result, administration developed possible amendments to better regulate RVs on residential lots within the city. The amendments proposed were that only one RV could be stored in the front yard of a lot from April 1 to Oct. 31. RVs cannot be stored in the front yard from Nov. 1 to March 31 of the following calendar year.
No part of an RV could be located within one metre from the back edge of a sidewalk, and any RV parked on a lot must be on a driveway or parking pad. Further, under the proposed changes RVs could not be stored on a vacant lot.
Around 20 residents were on hand at the March 22 public hearing to express their thoughts and opinions regarding the proposed changes.
“What we're dealing with is an erosion of property rights. It will also decrease the resale value of our homes,” said resident Larry Ashcroft during the public hearing. “I've studied the proposed changes and find them lacking common sense and logic.”
Ron Cooper added, “As far as the parking pad goes, that's an economic concern. I looked at putting a parking pad in and I got a quote. It's going to cost $3,000 for me to buy a parking pad.”
Residents also expressed concerns to council about the one-metre restriction, stating that many RV owners don't have that excess space when parking their vehicle in their driveway.
“I've got my camper 18-inches from the hitch to the sidewalk. I spent years looking for a trailer that would fit and I don't think I should have to sell my camper or get rid of it because you changed the bylaw. I tried to follow the regulations but now we're being told that's not good enough,” said Bill Shipman.
Not everyone who attended the public hearing was against the proposed bylaw amendments. Some encouraged council that it should even be taken one step further and include other recreational vehicles such as boats and trailers hauling quads.
“I have to look out my window every night and see the back end of a camper. I didn't buy a house in a (residential) zone for it to look like I'm living in a campground,” said resident Ray Gillis, adding the minimum one-metre back from the sidewalk is essential.
“If you went smaller than one-metre, then the children riding their bikes – if they meet someone on the sidewalk they usually go to the far side. If you have that trailer hitch out then you run the risk of someone wiping out.”
When it came time to make their decision, council was divided on the issue. Coun. Chris Vining, who has championed stricter RV parking bylaws since the last election, was steadfast in his opinion that changes are long overdue for community safety and aesthetics.
“I'm hearing the status quo is fine. I really struggle with us just moving forward and not doing anything,” said Vining. “The rights of an RV owner shouldn't be encroaching on the rights of their neighbours...What you do on your property has a run down effect on everyone else on public property.”
Coun. Kelvin Plain added, “I was one of the councillors that said we need this in our community. This is not an overreach. It is about aesthetics, it is about safety, and it is about property rights – but it's everybody's property rights.”
On the other side of the issue, councillors felt it was crossing a line for the city to dictate what residents do on their own property.
“This bylaw is overreaching in its nature. If someone wants to park an RV on their property, I don't feel comfortable telling them how long or that they have to spend money on a pad,” countered Coun. Bob Buckle.
Coun. Duane Lay sided with Buckle, noting that a lot of families work hard to purchase an RV.
“There are a lot of young families with RVs. When the time comes to play, they want to be able to play. I won't support anything that restricts parking in the front, and I don't agree with it being seasonal. I think this is going way too far.”
After much contention and discussion around the issue, council defeated the proposed amendments. RV parking requirements will continue to stay as is under the current land use bylaw, which states that no more than two RVs can be present on a regular basis on a detached dwelling lot, and that RVs may be stored on a regular basis in all districts provided they're not used for living accommodations.
