Sean C. Morgan
For a fee, owners of recreational vehicles may now inhabit them on their own property for up to 60 days in any one-year period.
The Sweet Home City Council unanimously adopted a new ordinance increasing the limit from seven days to 60 days during its regular meeting on Oct. 28. The council also adopted a resolution setting fees for the permit.
The city has been considering the ordinance this year after resident Brady Pickle asked the Planning Commission for a permit to allow the use of an RV as a temporary dwelling unit. The Planning Commission denied the request, and Pickle appealed to the council, which also denied the request but opted to work on revising the ordinance.
Pickle had been using his RV when someone reported him to city code enforcement, prompting him to apply for a permit to allow the use of the RV. The Planning Commission has regularly approved similar permit requests for medical hardships, although now it is reconsidering how it handles those requests.
Pickle explained to the Planning Commission and the City Council that he and his wife travel most of the year. To help maintain security in their home, their grandchildren live there while they travel. It helps their grandchildren and it helps them.
When they return to Sweet Home every couple of months, for a few weeks at a time, they stay in the RV rather than displacing their grandchildren, Pickle said.
The Public Safety Committee began exploring ways to allow him and others like him to use their RVs this way.
Under the new ordinance, any property may have an RV in use for up to 60 days. The first seven requires no fee or permit. For up to 15 days, the city requires a $50 fee and a permit. To extend a permit up to 60 days requires an additional $35. Each extension past 15 days requires a $35 fee.
Pickle told The New Era that 60 days per year is enough for his purposes, but he objected to the permit fees. He might be here for two weeks and then gone for a month, he pointed out. Upon returning, he would need to pay $35 more, and he would need to do it every time he returns.
Public Works Director Mike Adams and City Manager Craig Martin told The New Era that Pickle would not need to pay $35 each time. He could apply for an $85 60-day permit, designating specific periods during which he would be home using his RV.
It would take planning, Adams said, but the overall permit can be broken up over any yearlong period.
Present at the meeting were councilors Marybeth Angulo, Craig Fentiman, Dave Trask, Greg Mahler and Bruce Hobbs. Mayor Jim Gourley was absent. The seventh seat is vacant.