Gladstone working toward new RV ordinance

The City of Gladstone prides itself in being “the year round playground” of the Upper Peninsula. With warm weather fast approaching, city residents are readying their recreational vehicles for summer fun.

Parking those vehicles on city streets has become an issue for many Gladstone citizens. A proposed city ordinance may help curb the problem.

“The primary issue that we’re trying to address is the fact that some RVs and some campers and some boats are left on the city streets for primarily the entire season, and it’s caused some parking concerns. It’s caused some pedestrian concerns, some traffic safety concerns that we’re trying to alleviate with the adoption of the ordinance,” said Paul Geyer, Gladstone’s Director of Public Safety.

“There was all kinds of issues that residents had that, you know, that they brought to our attention,” Gladstone City Manager Darla Falcon said. “So we’re trying to put something on the books that we can enforce.”

The ordinance prohibits residents from parking RVs on city streets for more than 48 hours. It also places limits on the use of vehicles as living quarters for extended periods of time. If adopted, enforcement of the ordinance would begin with education of the public.

“For the first year, you know, especially this year, unless we have consistent problems with a certain address or something, we’re going to try to deal a lot with warnings, education mainly, with the new ordinance,” added Geyer.

City staff has been hard at work gathering public opinion on the proposed ordinance to ensure a balance between recreation and parking concerns. A public hearing will take place Monday at the city commission’s regular meeting, at which time the ordinance could be adopted, sent back to subcommittee, or rejected.