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Planning commission recommends allowing RVs in mobile-home parks after managers describe long-standing use
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Summary
The Boulder City Planning Commission voted to recommend a zoning text amendment to let recreational vehicles be a permitted use in MP mobile-home-park zones citywide, after park managers said RVs have occupied lots for decades and commissioners raised safety and precedent concerns.
The Boulder City Planning Commission recommended that the City Council approve a text amendment to Title 11 that would allow recreational vehicles (RVs) as a permitted use in MP mobile-home-park zones.
Nikisha Lyon, planning manager with the Community Development Department, told the commission the amendment would apply to all MP-zoned properties in Boulder City and was prompted when a manufactured home destroyed by fire could not be replaced with an RV under the current code. Lyon said staff finds the proposed change would not require an amendment to the adopted city master plan and that parcel-specific impacts — including utilities, noise, drainage and neighborhood character — would be evaluated during applicable permitting processes.
Laurie Humphreys, park manager at Moores Mobile Home Park, described the park’s history and current composition: “It has 56 lots on it … we counted, I do believe, 9 mobile homes. The rest of them are bumper pull or … 30 foot travel trailers.” Humphreys said many units have been in place since the site operated as a KOA in the 1950s and warned that forbidding RVs from the upper park would displace most occupants and could leave lots empty. “Most of our tenants are so grateful … they had some place to go,” she said, describing RVs as an affordability option for workers and long-term residents.
Koki Booth, property manager at El Dorado Mobile Home Park, told the commission his park has roughly six pull trailers and that electrical pedestals are set up to service both RVs and mobile homes. Booth said managers were unaware the presence of RVs made them noncompliant until Moores’ manager raised the issue.
Commissioners asked whether the city’s code defines “automobile” or “truck” and whether allowing RVs would conflict with state regulations that govern manufactured housing. Lyon clarified that local zoning controls allowable land uses (what may be located in a zoning district) and that manufactured-housing structure standards and placement fall under state regulation; she said the title-11 amendment is about uses, not building-permit standards.
Chairman Crum spoke against the change, saying the upper park resembles a campground and expressing concern about setting a citywide precedent: “I just don't believe this is not a campground, and I don't believe RV should be allowed in this zone. … It creates a transient community, it sets precedent.” Other commissioners voiced support, saying the amendment creates flexibility and a path to address nonconforming situations.
After deliberation, a commissioner moved and another seconded a motion to recommend approval of the text amendment (resolution number 1279). The commission approved the recommendation by voice vote; a written public comment period had produced no submissions. The recommendation will be forwarded to the City Council for consideration.
