RV Weekly

Hardly a day goes by when I don’t hear about a local community somewhere where the elected leaders are waging war against the RV industry. I have a very hard time trying to understand the rationale behind their behavior. More and more communities are clamping down on where RV owners can park their units. Some communities won’t let them park in driveways, others prevent street parking, others insist on screening so the RV can’t be seen by anybody at any time. 

A few of the most ridiculous local ordinances I have seen enforced in the past few weeks include: Hundreds of RVers who live in other states, but spend a few winter months in one of two Texas counties are being hit up for a collective $48 million in property taxes, despite the fact they don’t own the property the RV sits on and despite the fact the RVs are registered in another state. 

People who live in Dover, Del., and own RVs longer than 31 feet in length can only park them in a garage or behind a screened fence five feet from the property line. What’s the point of five feet? Is the city afraid neighbors might smell the RV as they walk near their fence? In Bedford, Texas, a council member shrieked that she didn’t want to see RV’s parked on the city streets. That was her response to a crackdown on two families who allow 105 RVs to be parked on 7.5 acres of unused land on private property. She didn’t want them parked anywhere. 

Tailgating, once a favored passion among RVers — and the subject of one of the current Go RVing ads — is also under attack. Stadiums are preventing RVs from being parked close to the venue. Despite the fact RVers pay more for the privilege of parking, some patrons were upset the RVs took up more than one parking space. The Air Force Academy is in hot water for paving over less than one-third an acre of land inhabited by a “protected” mouse. The mouse, who pays no taxes and serves only as a to-go meal for an enterprising hawk, apparently has more rights than military members who own RVs and need a place to park them. 

My favorite example to date of government abuse of authority comes from Lakeland, Calif., where RVs can’t be parked in driveways, they can’t be parked on city streets, they are not allowed in backyards and the four privately-owned storage facilities serving the area are filled to capacity — and have waiting lists. But, if an RV owner lucky enough to find private storage wants to use his unit, he must go to city hall to get a permit to park it in the driveway or street long enough to load or unload the unit. Here’s the catch. The permits are good for three days. Want to use your RV for a four-day weekend? You need two permits. Better yet, the city will only grant RV owners 16 permits a year. Imagine making a monthly payment on an RV knowing that you can only load it or unload it at your house 16 times a year. The abuse doesn’t stop there. Developers who want to build a campground face a two- or three-year hurdle to get through the appropriate permits, impact studies, zoning and other mindless red-tape. And even then, the developers aren’t safe. Look at the tragedy of Tontitown, Ark. Elected officials upset they weren’t “consulted” (translation: received their share of cash) about an RV park being developed outside the town’s borders moved to annex the property. The effort was made in order to shut down the project, which had already begun because the county had given it’s blessing. The annexation move appears to have violated the town’s own laws as well as state eminent domain laws. Now the park developers must battle five separate lawsuits in local, state and federal courts to protect their rights. 

Can anyone tell me the last time city officials openly embraced the idea of allowing an RV dealer to open a store without requiring him to jump through hoops like a trained seal for their entertainment? Zoning laws, conditional use permits, tax incremental financing – they are all ways in which city officials can exert control over allowing an RV-related business to even open its doors. In the Declaration of Independence, one of the charges lobbed against the king of England included this gem, “He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.” 

Apparently little has changed in 2031 years. We’ve simply exchanged one tyrant king thousands of miles away across an ocean for an army of thousands of little clip-board carrying tyrants in large cities and small towns across America. I’ve said before that the animosity toward RVing expressed by local government officials could be the bane of this industry’s existence. They have unchecked ability to increase the costs and frustration our owners experience with the RV lifestyle. What’s in it for them? Money, in the form of taxes, fees, penalties and citations. 

Our trade associations valiantly monitor the activities of state and federal legislatures, but they ignore the gnats drafting annoying local ordinances. Too many gnats threaten to spoil our picnic. RV owners, while appreciative of having federal funding available for scenic byways, will throw their hands up in frustration and walk away from a lifestyle where it becomes impossible to use or store the vehicles they purchased. 

It’s time for the industry to stand up to these local legislators to protect the rights of our customers. Organizations advocating the protection of other cherished freedoms have enjoyed success by training an army of volunteer lawyers to head off attempts to prevent people from freely expressing themselves. Perhaps we need a similar initiative to train attorneys about the benefits of the RV lifestyle so they can stand up to local officials and provide muscle to the voice of opposition currently voiced by frustrated and powerless RV owners.