City passes ordinances on recreational vehicle parking on first reading

See a full story in Wednesday’s edition of Havre Daily News.

In addition to taking a number of public comments, Havre City Council passed ordinances Monday on first reading regarding on- and off-street parking of trailers and recreational vehicles in the city.

The first ordinance prohibits trailers from being parked on city streets for more than 72 hours in any seven-day period. City Council Member Andrew Brekke said the previous ordinance only specified that trailers can’t be parked on the street for longer than 48 hours without being moved.

Brekke said this led to people just moving their trailers slightly forward to get around the requirement and ended up doing nothing to reduce the amount of trailers on the street, which he said has become a potential safety issue.

Under this ordinance people would have to move their trailers after 72 hours and not bring them back for a week.

After some discussion about how this would affect contractors the council passed it on the first reading, with Brekke saying contractors can get special permits from either Havre Public Works or the Havre Police Department if they need to be somewhere for more than 72 hours.

The ordinance passed unanimously.

The second ordinance imposes some restrictions on where items like motor homes, campers, snowmobiles, boats and other recreational vehicles can be stored on people’s properties.

Brekke said the ordinance requires vehicles like this to be stored in people’s backyards, unless they are inaccessible, in which case side yards can be used.

It also specifies how far away the vehicles must be from houses, which Brekke said is a safety concern should those vehicles catch fire and potentially spread to other structures.

He said it also mandates that the spot they are parked on be prepared with concrete, asphalt, gravel or something of that nature.

Brekke said it also prohibits people from living in the vehicles for more than 5 consecutive days, as it is unsafe and the city doesn’t want to encourage people living in them.

This ordinance drew criticism from councilors Josh Miller and Derek Eldrige, the former of whom called it an overreach, and the latter of whom expressed concerns about people visiting relatives and friends and using the vehicles for more than five days.

Brekke said these ordinances are complaint-based and more a tool to be used when someone is creating issues for their neighbors.

The ordinance passed 5-2 with Miller and Eldrige voting against. Council Member Sarah McKinney was absent.