Lake Chaparral resident challenges proposed moratorium on year‑round RV occupancy; county to revisit zoning language

Dean Norton, representing the Lake Chaparral property organization, urged the commission to clarify enforcement of existing codes and questioned a proposed moratorium on enforcement of year‑round RV occupancy. “According to county zoning regulations, RVs are not permitted to be used as year‑round dwellings,” Norton said, noting that designated areas (for example, the lake, fairgrounds and Sugar Valley) were expressly allowed while other locations were not.

Norton also pointed to sanitation and nuisance codes and said those separate enforcement mechanisms remain available regardless of any moratorium on the year‑round camping language. He cited KDHE and a statutory reference in the course of his remarks and warned that if the county declined to enforce sanitation requirements he would report the matter to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment for review.

The councillor who proposed the interim moratorium replied that the pause applied only to the year‑round camping regulation’s grandfather clause while planning and zoning rewrites the language to make it administratively clear who—if anyone—qualifies for grandfathered status. “The proposed moratorium was just in this interim until the new language can be written,” the councillor told Norton and the commissioners, adding that staff turnover made it difficult to establish who resided in place at the time the code was adopted.

Commissioners and the public discussed enforcement practicality, transportation resources SEK provides, and the interplay between covenants in lake communities and county codes. No formal moratorium vote was taken; the councillor said planning and zoning will revisit the year‑round camping language and that the commission will provide a public forum if amendments are proposed.