Council Puts Out Welcome Mat for RVers

By 250 News

In a move that may be seen as reminiscent of the Hockey Enforcers change of heart, Prince George City Council has voted to rescind an earlier motion.  At issue was the motion which called upon Administration to develop a bylaw which would allow enforcement of zoning bylaws by ticketing  retail operators  and property owners, if  RV’s were parking overnight in their lots.

That motion was unanimously rescinded.

Mayor Kinsley brought forth a new motion,  calling on Administration to examine all  options including the possibility of setting a 12 hour time limit for RV parking.

Councillor Don Bassermann asked that Administration look at more options that offer more flexibility.  The Mayor says he chose the 12 hour period "based on several hundred e-mails that ranged from  0-24 so  I went somewhere in the middle."

Bassermann asked for a motion that wouldn’t  put any fixed time limit, so Administration would have more options.

Mayor Colin Kinsley says the whole thing started because the City wanted  people to pay attention to the zoning bylaw.  "Zoning is there for a reason to protect, to plan and develop"  said the Mayor  "You don’t want to have a 300 thousand dollar home and have an abatoir built next door."

Councilor  Don Zurowski says the wrong decision wasn’t made two weeks ago, it was made last year when Council didn’t  deal with it in more depth at that time.  "We have heard from retailers, we have heard from RVer’s and we appreciate the input" says Zurowski.

Councilor Brian Skakun says there are all sorts of sites, including City property, where people park overnight so "We could be ticketing ourselves"  He asked that if Council is going to look at this issue, that it be dealt with in the fall, when all stakeholders can come together.

Councillor Glenn Scott says he got more than 160 e-mails from all over north America, "If we can’t enforce the bylaw, then lets get rid of it."

It isn’t that simple, says the Mayor, who notes this is about  zoning, and you just can’t get rid of a zoning bylaw.

Councillor Basserman put  forth  a motion:

"The issue be referred back to Administration for further options dealing with the RV parking issue."  Simple, but says it allows  Administration to  "consider  time frames for lay over,  text changes in the existing bylaws,  would allow all stake holders  to have input and would allow (in a timely manner) for RVers to communicate earlier rather than later that this community is  reviewing the  matter."

Administration would be expected to bring back some options for Council’s consideration.

The Mayor says  "It takes a pretty tall person to admit they made a mistake and fix it, whether it be called flip flop or not, but better to do the right thing than be like some senior governments and rather than admit they are wrong and carry on with a bad law."  All voted in favour of the motion except for Councilor Brian Skakun. 

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