Above, Commissioners Anna Haines and Tony Patton. (City-Times photo)

By Patrick Lynn and Brandi Makuski

City Plan Commissioners this week began a discussion which eventually could affect any resident who owns a boat, camper or jet ski.

Alderman Mike Phillips asked the Commission to consider creating a new ordinance regulating the parking and storage of recreational vehicles within residential districts in the city. The request was prompted, he said, by a longtime problem with a resident in his own neighborhood.

Phillips said while building a home in his Mary Street neighborhood, he became further aware of ordinances relating to home construction, and noticed several empty lots along his street being used to store recreational vehicles- something many in his neighborhood complain about.

“But we couldn’t touch them because we have no ordinance in place to tackle that,” said Phillips. “I think something can be done there, but it hasn’t yet. That’s why I brought this forward- I think we need to get an ordinance in place.”

Community Development Director Michael Ostrowski said the ordinance, if created, would be aimed at regulating where boats and other recreational

vehicles should be stored on a property within a residential neighborhood. The move would avoid unsightly storage from the front yards of area homes, he said.

“We’ve looked at a number of different codes, and I was going to draft an ordinance for this month, however there are so many elements within this ordinance that could be regulated,” Ostrowski said. “But I wanted to get some direction from the Plan Commission- and the Council- as to whether we even want to go down this road and regulate even more than what we do.”

Ostrowski added if the Commission wanted to move on the ordinance, it would need to consider how to define a recreational vehicle, whether to limit the number of recreational vehicles stored on a property and whether to restrict where those vehicles could be placed- including whether they should be stored on hard surfaces. Current city ordinance permits non-motorized vehicles to be parked on a property owner’s grass surface, but also prohibits an accessory or recreational vehicles within the front yard setback.

But Ostrowski, along with Mayor Andrew Halverson, said he didn’t believe the storage of recreational vehicles was a major issue in the city.

“There are clearly some properties within Stevens Point that have gone above and beyond what is normal in terms of the number and location of these vehicles,”Ostrowski said. “However, I think a majority of the properties in the city are fine.”

“I don’t want to pursue this at all,” Mayor Andrew Halverson said. “I think it’s opening up a can of worms I think this community shouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. The amount of people who have a boat, snowmobiles, campers, a utility trailer- there’s a lot of those people who have a lot more than two (vehicles). Should we necessarily regulate and take an approach city- wide to try and work with one or two pretty aggressive examples?”
City Plan Commissioner Jerry Moore agreed, saying he’s had few, if any, complaints about vehicles stored on private property.

“I’ve been an alderman since 2000, and I really haven’t had any complaints about vehicles, trailers, that kind of thing. Really it’s a complaint about outright trash, if there’s a complaint at all,” Moore said, adding an ordinance like this has potential to pit neighbors against each other.

“But if that’s the kind of dogfight you want to start…,” he said, shrugging. “I just don’t think it’s worth it, because we’re not getting that many complaints. For the properties that are a problem, between the aldermen, the mayor and the inspection department, I think we could work some-thing out without making this city-wide.”

Commissioner Dave Cooper also said a new ordinance wasn’t necessary, and it would likely create more problems than it would solve.

“What I’m hearing is a few extreme cases that are basically ruining it for everyone else. I think it’d be nice to find some happy medium there,” Cooper said. “How you write that into ordinance, I don’t know. I don’t know how we can differentiate, and I don’t think we should punish people for having stuff, toys. As long as they’re being considerate of their neighbors, and it’s not junk.”

Commissioner Tony Patton said the issue didn’t have wide support when it came before the city a few years ago.

“People said, you better watch out what you ask for, because there’s a lot of people who are your neighbors who have a camper on their driveway, or on the side of their house, and they’re going to have to move it,” Patton said. “This could mean hundreds of people having to move their vehicles and have no place to go with them.”

Commissioners Anna Haines and Garry Curless disagreed, saying an ordinance should be created so every resident is held to the same standard.

“I think the city’s done a poor job (of enforcing ordinances) in the last few years,” Curless said. “I don’t think boats have to be in front of the house anywhere in the city. I think all those trailers and vehicles should be no further in the front of the house than the side (of the home)”.

Ostrowski agreed to provide photographic evidence of some offensive properties in the city for the next Commission meeting in August, but commissioners remained divided on the issue. Halverson suggested moving forward in smaller steps until a majority opinion could be reached.

“The most practical, and likely, way tomove forward is to address vehicle storage distance to lot lines,” Halverson said. “I think that’s one thing we can all likely agree on. It’s a good first step, and we can continue the overall dialogue from here.”

The matter will come up again for discussion at the August Plan Commission meeting.