Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Rvs Ordinance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council approves first reading of rewritten RV ordinance, sends details to ULDC for review
Summary
On first reading the council approved a full rewrite of the town's recreational-vehicle rules, adopting limits on occupancy and permit requirements while asking staff and the Unified Land Development Code (ULDC) committee for clarifications on enforcement and agricultural exceptions. Motion passed 4-1.
A majority of the Town Council of the Town of Loxahatchee Groves voted to approve on first reading a proposed rewrite of the municipal ordinance regulating recreational vehicles, directing staff to incorporate requested clarifications and to route the text to the town's Unified Land Development Code committee for review.
The ordinance, introduced at first reading, would require that the parcel hosting an RV must have a homesteaded principal residential dwelling, limit occupied RV use to six months, reduce permitted RV counts by acreage (generally 1'2 with an additional allowance for bona fide agricultural properties), eliminate the separate affidavit used for unoccupied RVs, and cap an occupied-RV permit fee at $50. Karen Gardner Young, the town's community standards director, told the council the proposal is intended to replace the September 2024 ordinance rather than amend it.
Council members pressed staff for details about scale and enforcement. Council member Kane said a back-of-envelope calculation suggested the provisions could permit as many as 1,500 additional RVs in town if every eligible homesteaded property used the allowance; staff said their records show about 97 affidavits and roughly 20 permits in the last year (about 120 documented registrations) but acknowledged there are likely more in the town. Council members also asked officials to tighten language in Section 92-10 to avoid inadvertent loopholes and to make the bona fide agricultural caretaker exception and the 80% parcel threshold explicit in the code.
Council discussed enforcement capacity if the town does not have a current PBSO contract. Staff said code-enforcement officers have been administering the existing ordinance and that the rewrite is intended to give clearer enforcement tools, including addressing health, life and safety hookups and garbage removal requirements in permit conditions.
After public comment urging the council to focus on hidden, high-density RV sites and on preserving the town's character, Council member Kane moved to approve ordinance 20-26-01 on first reading with the proposed changes and review by the ULDC. Council member Coleman seconded. The motion passed on a 4-1 vote.
The council directed staff to: provide a simple single-page permit application to encourage compliance; supply a more precise count of existing RVs and affidavits (seasonal and nonseasonal estimates) for the ULDC and council; clarify the bona fide agricultural exception (including septic/electric requirements for caretakers); and return with a revised draft for second reading in July if those edits are completed.
The ordinance remains at first reading; final adoption would require a second reading and an official vote at a future meeting.
