While a new ordinance will soon place tighter restrictions on recreation and sleeper vehicles on Longmont public streets and rights-of-way, Weld County recently made it easier for people to continue living in their RVs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Weld County commissioners last week extended the amount of time people can live in their RVs in unincorporated parts of the county as a means of social distancing or quarantining during the pandemic, according to a news release.
“Of the measures we’ve asked our residents to practice this year one of them is social distancing. For some families this resolution will give them the space needed to do that,” Weld County Commissioner Mike Freeman stated in the new release. “Further suspending our RV use restrictions in unincorporated Weld County is a small but impactful way to help families further protect themselves against the virus.”
Commissioners in April originally approved suspending the RV use restriction, eliminating a requirement in county code that only allows using an RV as a means of shelter while camping for no more than a seven-day period, the news release states.
The extension will last until the declaration of disaster emergency enacted in March is officially ended by the board, the release states.
In Longmont, a new ordinance aimed at keeping RVs from parking on city streets goes into effect Friday. Under the new law, sleeper vehicles must be removed “entirely” from public streets or public property. Owners that don’t comply can be ticketed or have their vehicles towed, according to the ordinance.
The measure also prevents owners from moving their sleeper vehicles from location to location on a public street or property once they have been warned, the ordinance states.
The tougher law is aimed at curbing a growing problem of people abandoning their RVs or sleeper vehicles on city streets, according to city officials. Some RV owners also dump their trash or solid wastes on city roads or in wastewater systems, causing environmental hazards, officials say.
Exceptions to the new law include vehicles that have been issued a parking permit, or vehicles actively being loaded or unloaded.
RV dwellers have complained they cannot afford traditional housing in Longmont and must live in their RVs to survive.
City officials say they are working to provide transitional housing for full-time RV users.
Jeff Satur, Longmont Public Safety deputy chief, in an email said enforcement of the RV ordinance will be largely complaint-based. “But I believe the community would expect an officer to issue a warning if they observed some egregious or obvious violations of the ordinance,” he said.
