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Commission endorses zoning changes to regulate mini‑barns, RVs and ready‑removables; aims to shift enforcement from building codes to zoning
Summary
After more than a year of revisions, Bedford County commissioners approved a zoning resolution amendment to regulate temporary uses including small ‘mini‑barn’ dwellings and the use of RVs as long‑term residences, creating permitting paths, temporary permits, and exemptions for construction and medical necessity.
Bedford County commissioners voted to forward an updated zoning amendment that creates temporary‑use rules addressing mini‑barn conversions, RVs used as dwellings, and definitions for ready‑removables, with the goal of bringing these uses into the zoning office’s authority rather than leaving enforcement solely to building codes departments.
Planning staff and Director Chris Watts told commissioners the regulation package — described as an eight‑page resolution that took over a year to finalize — targets structures and situations not designed for permanent habitation (examples cited: retail mini‑barns converted to residences and RVs used as permanent housing). The amendment creates definitions, temporary zoning permits, and exemptions intended to allow limited, humane flexibility (for example, a temporary permit while a house is under construction, with renewals available) while giving zoning staff tools other than immediate utility shutoff to manage public‑health and septic concerns.
Commissioners raised questions about common scenarios: owners living in a camper during house construction, students or young adults using RVs beside a home for affordability, and whether a county could permit an RV park that effectively becomes long‑term housing. Planning staff said the county already treats living permanently in RVs as a building code violation and that moving regulation into zoning would let the county work with residents to transition away from unsafe living conditions over time rather than rely on the building codes department’s primary remedy of cutting utilities. The amendment also clarifies that mini‑barns would not be grandfathered as residences and that definitions will separate campgrounds (A‑1) from commercial RV parks (C‑1). After discussion the committee recorded an “aye” vote and forwarded the resolution for full‑commission action.
