The Battle Ground City Council unanimously voted Monday, March 2, to set a public hearing on proposed changes to the city’s rules for recreational vehicle, trailer and boat storage in residential districts. The public hearing is scheduled for Monday, April 6.
The ordinance discussion follows earlier council conversations in February about revisiting the decades-old municipal code regulating recreational vehicle and trailer parking in residential areas. The proposal would replace long-standing language in Battle Ground Municipal Code 17.135.150 governing trailer and recreational vehicle storage on residential property. The current rule requires trailers, RVs and similar vehicles stored outside to remain behind the front building line of a home.
The proposed ordinance would instead allow the off-street parking of recreational vehicles and trailers on residential lots under specified conditions. Those include limiting the number to three vehicles or trailers outside on a single-family lot, prohibiting parking in the front yard but allowing one vehicle on a legally established driveway and requiring vehicles to be licensed and not obstruct public right-of-way or visibility.
Council members discussed several details of the proposed language before voting to move the ordinance to a public hearing.
Councilmember Victoria Ferrer raised concerns about restricting the number of recreational vehicles residents could keep on their property.
“I don't like the fact that it states… no more than three recreational vehicles or trailers may be parked outside on a single-family lot. I can tell you we've got a lot of lots in our neighborhood throughout our city that have very long, you can call them private roads, you can call them driveways. We haven't discussed what exactly a private road is. There are three-car garages, some with even a huge trailer and another extension of their driveway. And for us to say that you can only have three… I don't like the fact that we would be telling property owners, ‘you can't have this,’” Ferrer said.
Councilmember Shane Bowman, who serves as a fire commissioner for Fire District 3, said the city must balance property rights with neighborhood safety and livability, pointing to potential impacts on sidewalks and emergency access.
“And the last point that I'm going to bring up that that nobody thinks about is public safety. There's a public safety component to this from a fire standpoint, and from our police officers. When we go to a residence, and it's full of garbage or trailers and we can't get around and we have an issue now that affects not just them, but it affects the neighbors next to them. And so you can't say, ‘Well, it's my property. What happens on my property?’ No, because it could go on to your neighbor's property when you have these trailers and things like that,” Bowman said.
Bowman also said city regulations exist because past situations created the need for them.
“There is not one thing in our code that was put in because we had nothing better to do. It was all put in there because somebody did something and we had to make a law against that and say, ‘Well, you can't do that.’ And so if everyone were perfect, we wouldn't have these issues. And so we got to find that balance,” Bowman said.
Councilmember Aimee Vaile said she hopes the ordinance can strike a balance between neighborhood concerns and the cost homeowners face in complying with city rules.
“I am hopeful that we can improve this in a way that not only ensures that our neighbors are happy with the way that the RVs are parked and that it's not detrimentally affecting our home values in a negative way, although it is still cost-effective for the owners of the property because I agree also… in the fact that I want to protect private property rights,” Vaile said.
Councilmember Jeanie Kuypers also emphasized the need for compromise between individual property rights and living within a city.
“I think there's indeed a fine balance in allowing private property to be used the way people want to use it. And yet I think that there is a balance between those who live outside city limits and have more space versus those who are in a community and have neighbors and have competing property values, safety potential issues, visibility issues. So, I do think that the way this is written is getting us very close to a really good compromise,” Kuypers said.
The public hearing will take place during a City Council meeting starting at 7 p.m. on April 6 at the Battle Ground City Hall Council Chambers on 109 SW 1 Street, Second Floor.
