Planning and zoning staff told the Scott County Fiscal Court on Aug. 1 that a revised draft ordinance regulating recreational vehicle (RV) parks has been updated after a recent public outreach session and is ready to move toward a public hearing once the county and stakeholders resolve insurance and wastewater enforcement questions.

The discussion drew attention to road safety, wastewater treatment and how to ensure operators cannot leave the county to shoulder clean-up costs, planning staff said.

Holden Fleming, planning and zoning staff member, said the county held a stakeholder outreach session the previous evening attended by about 30–35 people and that feedback focused on traffic safety and wastewater treatment. Fleming said staff will incorporate the comments into the draft and bring it to the planning commission and, later, to the fiscal court for a workshop and public hearing.

Why it matters: The court is operating under a moratorium on RV-related permits, and the timeline for finishing ordinance language affects whether the planning commission and fiscal court can complete their reviews before the moratorium expires. County officials said the moratorium was extended previously to Dec. 27.

Fleming said the draft currently addresses insurance and bond options for park operators; he recommended the court get specific on financial assurance so the county is not left to handle decommissioning costs. "What we don't want to do is create a big problem for the county, and the county has to come in and play cleanup, and is on the hook for somebody else's problem," Fleming said.

Court member Ryan (first name used in the meeting) raised similar concerns and asked whether bonding or insurance would best protect the county. Fleming said the draft contemplates insurance requirements and bonds "or in lieu of bonding," but staff need to refine how any insurance/bonding would work in practice.

Wastewater enforcement and the role of WEDCO (the local water district) came up repeatedly. Fleming said the county is not the wastewater technical expert and that collaboration with WEDCO will be required. "Our interaction with WEDCO is going to be very important, and it's going to take some sort of collaboration between all three of us," Fleming said.

Court members stressed two related points: (1) the county wants to emphasize that RV parks are intended for recreation rather than long-term housing, and (2) the draft's length-of-stay rules are likely to change based on public input. Fleming said the committee working on the draft will recommend reducing an originally-discussed four-month maximum slot occupancy to 29 days to reinforce the recreational intent.

Several attention points remain for staff to research and bring back to the court: specific insurance products and limits appropriate for pollution and decommissioning risk; whether bonding is preferable for guaranteeing corrective work; and an enforcement framework tied to WEDCO signoff on wastewater infrastructure. Fleming and other staff recommended at least one more workshop and then a planning commission public hearing rather than rushing to a final vote.

No formal ordinance was adopted at the Aug. 1 meeting; staff will revise the draft, schedule additional stakeholder engagement if needed, and move it to the planning commission and then the fiscal court for further consideration.

Ending: County staff asked court members and residents to send additional questions and concerns to planning staff; the court will watch planning commission progress and schedule a workshop for final tweaks before any adoption vote.