New RV code consolidates old rules, enforcement agency

After more than a year of back-and-forth talks with homeowners and recreational vehicle enthusiasts, Carson City officials have proposed a set of rules to govern trailers and motor homes.

The new RV code, scheduled for a vote by the city's board of supervisors Thursday, consolidates a mish-mash of old rules dealing with motor homes and trailers into one set of rules enforced by one city agency.

"We had five departments running around enforcing (RV) rules," said Community Development Director Walt Sullivan.

When and where motor homes and trailers can park will now be governed by the Carson City Health Department's new enforcement division, which was created last summer.

Under the proposed code, RVs and all manner of trailers may not be stored on city streets at all from Oct. 1 to March 31. During the summer, they can be parked on public streets only with permission from the nearest resident, and only for 72 hours during a 30-day period.

After three days, an RV or a trailer would have to be moved onto private property or out of the neighborhood for at least a month before being parked on the street again.

The previous code also set a three-day limit on parking RVs on the street, but it didn't say how far they would have to be moved after 72 hours. Sullivan said a few feet often did the trick.

While the new, more strict codes will make it harder to keep an RV, at least one dealer, Kevin Johnson of Carson RV, didn't seem worried about how it might affect sales.

"There are a lot of places now that offer storage for RVs, and they're pretty reasonable, usually around $25 a month," he said.

The code also limits to three days the amount of time people can live in parking lots of businesses such as Wal-Mart - a provision RV park owners wanted, Sullivan said, as they saw more and more people parking RVs in front of box stores rather than paying for a space in a park. The commercial parking lots must also meet certain requirements, such as having big enough parking lanes for RVs.

"I think it was a good compromise with RV parks," Sullivan said.

The city passed a different code clarifying when and where people can live in RVs on private property this past winter. According to that code, someone can live in an RV on private property only while taking care of an ill person, or if the RV dweller is ill and the property owner is doing the caretaking.

The codes , which have been redrafted more than a half-dozen times after community workshops and public meetings over the past year, govern motor homes, camping trailers, travel trailers and "toy haulers."

Contact reporter Cory McConnell at cmcconnell@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1217.

Voting on the RV code

What: Carson City Board of Supervisors' meeting

When: 8:30 a.m. Thursday

Where: Sierra Room of the Carson City Community Center, 851 E. William St.

Call: 887-2100