With cold weather on the way, Turner Valley administration will no longer allow recreational vehicles to park on streets for accommodation purposes effective Oct. 15.
Last spring, the Town relaxed its traffic bylaw to allow owners of RVs to parking at residences for extended periods of time to accommodate those who needed to self-isolate in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The town’s traffic bylaw states that RVs can only be parked on the street in residential areas for up to 48 hours from May 1 to Nov. 1. Using an RV as accommodations is prohibited under the land use bylaw.
“We relaxed that and allowed people to park on the street if they needed to - as along as it was prepared properly,” said chief administrative officer Todd Sharpe. “There was no reporting requirement so I can’t say to what extent it was utilized. We didn’t have any concerns that were relayed to the town office or any sort of conflicts that we had to sort out.”
Sharpe said with the snow clearing program just around the corner, administration decided to take steps to end the program on Oct. 15.
“The vast majority of RVs are not winterized,” he said. “We didn’t see a reason to complicate snow removal by allowing people to keep them on the street. As of the 15th, if there is the odd one that we need to pay a visit to we will.”
Sharpe said administration has noticed a decrease in the number of RVs parked on streets with the camping season now over.
“We know the pandemic certainly hasn’t ended,” he said. “If individuals have rare circumstances, I would be open to hearing about those if they have unique needs. If there is a legitimate COVID-related reason why a resident would need to continue the use of their RV for that manner they need to come to the town office to speak to us.”
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