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Sumter County council approves first reading to allow boat and RV storage in more zones with strict limits
Summary
Council approved first reading of ordinance 25-07 to permit boat, recreational vehicle and noncommercial trailer storage as conditional uses in General Commercial and Agricultural Conservation districts with limits on size, separation, screening and access; the planning commission recommended approval.
Sumter County council approved first reading of ordinance amendment 25-07 on voice vote after a staff presentation describing new conditional-use standards for outdoor boat, RV and noncommercial trailer storage.
The ordinance, which would amend Article 3 Exhibit 5 and add Article 5 B1 to the Sumter County code, would allow businesses that only provide storage for recreational vehicles and boats to locate in General Commercial (GC) and Agricultural Conservation (AC) zoning districts subject to conditional-use review. Speaker 4 described the change as responding to a Land Use Committee direction to give flexibility “regarding where businesses primarily involved in the storage of boats, RVs, and noncommercial trailers” may locate.
Under the proposal, outdoor storage sites would face several limits: a minimum 1,000-foot separation between similar facilities; a maximum site size of 4 acres; a minimum 50-foot paved transitional drive from the public road to the site security gate; a minimum 6-foot opaque security fence and controlled access gate; screening requirements along the Highway Corridor Protection District; and surface and parking standards (a minimum 3-inch gravel surface for outdoor storage areas and paved parking where the underlying district requires it for on-site offices). Speaker 4 said the draft also expressly disallows long-term “dead storage” of broken or abandoned vehicles, adding, “This is not a junkyard.”
Speaker 5 asked whether the separation rule would prevent an existing facility from locating adjacent to another; staff replied the 1,000-foot standard is intended to avoid aggregation of adjacent 4-acre lots into a much larger continuous storage area that would have larger neighborhood impacts.
The planning commission recommended approval before the council vote. Speaker 2 moved and the council approved first reading on ordinance 25-07 by voice vote. The ordinance will return for subsequent readings and any required public hearing at a later meeting.
