Rockland council to revisit RV ordinance June 12

Tue, 05/09/2017 - 7:15pm

    ROCKLAND –Residents will  wait another month to hear how the RV ordinance in Rockland will play out. Not wanting to add more items to the draft, Councilor Ed Glaser proposed an amendment limiting the ordinance requirements to zones A and AA during the Monday, May 8 council meeting.

    That amendment, and the subsequent question of whether to add Zone B, has made councilors request more time.

    “I would view that as a fairly substantial change,” Council member Adam Ackor said. “I don’t think that’s a change I’d be comfortable just making tonight.”

    Zone B, according to Acting City Manager Audra Caler-Bell, is the most densely populated area in town. The lots are smaller and property owners are closer together.

    Ackor cited the current draft of the recreational vehicle ordinance as a welcome toolbox for the code enforcement officer.

    Yet, Councilor Valli Geiger still could not support some of the verbiage as it currently reads.

    Councilor Geiger said: “All of the verbiage under C....If we allow maybe a single RV maybe occupied, and all of those requirements met, then I think that would give John (Root) the cloud that he needed to pursue anything that was not on someone’s individual house. If we continue to leave in place ‘no longer than a week,’ though, I would recommend three weeks, then I would support it.”

    During a previous meeting, Code Enforcement Officer John Root told council that the city currently allows a one-week residency in a camper.

    "It actually has a limit of 48 hours for anyone to stay in their camper," he said. "I thought that was a little bit stringent. I tailored this to make it reasonable and in particular to make it so people, on their own property, can stay in their campers as long as they like."

    Root said there is a problem that comes up often and that is people living in campers on someone else's property.

    One example mentioned by Mayor Will Clayton during the May 2 agenda-setting meeting was of a certain mini-size school bus on Camden Street near VIP. That bus has since left the area.

    Related story:

     Rules governing yard sales and RV living could get tighter in Rockland

     

    Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com