Marble Falls council sends RV park regulations to planning and zoning
While RV parks for both short-term and long-term residency are popping up outside of Marble Falls, including this one on CR 401, city leaders want to tweak rules for any that might set up stake within city limits. Staff photo by Alex Copeland
After Marble Falls councilors voiced concerns over the possibility of RV park residents putting down longterm roots for what are supposed to be temporary stays, city of Marble Falls staff developed clearer regulations regarding the facilities.
The Marble Falls City Council looked at a proposed amendment to RV park regulations during its Tuesday, Jan. 19, meeting.
Following the review, council directed staff to send a proposed amendment to the planning and zoning committee for review and to place in ordinance format. The matter will come before the City Council again in a future meeting for final approval.
“The directive here is to send this to P&Z to create an actual code,” Councilor Dave Rhodes said of the proposed amendment. “I think (we) need to be involved in discussions over few specific things. I think they’re really minor, but this is a tremendous template compared to where we were and something great to work with.”
Regulations largely focus on park maintenance, permanency, and preventing future parks from shifting into being full-time residences without the proper zoning in place.
Right now, to establish a new RV park within the city, the applicant must receive a conditional use permit (CUP) approved by the City Council. The CUP process gives landowners within 200 feet notification and triggers planning and zoning and City Council hearings.
“Having a CUP in there with some guidelines, or limitations if you want to call it that, I think is a good model or tool that future councils can use given the stipulations laid out originally,” Rhodes said.
Proposed changes headed for planning and zoning consideration are:
- establishing minimum lot length, width, and overall average;
- requiring amenities such as showers, bathrooms, common area amenities, dog parks, and more;
- requiring owners or operators maintain the park facilities, fixtures, and permanent equipment in a clean and sanitary condition;
- requiring a park office that must maintain records pertaining to the management and supervision of the park available for inspection by law enforcement officers;
- and requiring rules that include disallowing and refusing to permit a person to occupy any lot for living purposes other than for interim or temporary periods of time that are generally less than 12 months in duration.
2 thoughts on “Marble Falls council sends RV park regulations to planning and zoning”
Comments are closed.
Having Minimum rules is understandable but if you break this down a little and really pick apart these proposed changes you can see they do not help in the grand scheme of it all.
Take the requirement for How long one can stay in a space. On one hand the council member does not want long term but the rules would allow 12 months or less. Hmm. The average RV,er moves around a lot and sooner than 12 months as the majority like to travel. Yes there maybe some wanting to stay longer than 12 months and if they do the rule wont stop them. They easily hook up their RV and move to the other side of the park so technically they met the requirement. They can move to another park all together for a week and come back.
Bathhouses needed. maybe maybe not. More people are buying self contained Rvs and these have showers and bathrooms. New Rv parks most likely would have full hookups so the needed for the extra facilities maybe should not be required.
Amenities should be optional even though that is a plus for those owning the Rv parks as it helps bring in people and increases profits.
Size requirements. 20x 40 should be fine in most cases. Plenty of room. I say that due to the fact that a development is being built with home lots that are only 40×55.
Upkeep is a No brainer. Most quality RV parks are well maintained which keeps them filled.
The biggest issue with RV parks is not about whether they are pretty and all but in actually having a place to build them. The cities draconian zoning rules makes it almost impossible to build one anyway. The zoning maps are a Joke and maybe need to be done away with.
The article on RV Parks would have made more sense had the picture shown an actual RV park located inside the city limits. A great example would be the one located on Nature Heights.
The RV park located on CR 401 was developed in 2015 and is outside the city limits.
In these days and times, all we need is government bureaucrats telling people how long they are allowed to live in their home. RV’s are home to people who don’t have the luxury of living in an expensive home or apartment. They also serve as home to construction workers that are working in our area on special projects that may last over a year.
I would like to remind everyone we live in Texas. I would rather see people living in RV’s than on the streets.
How would you like someone telling you when you need to relocate from the comfort of your home?