Stettler county council has agreed to waive the fee for temporary parking of a recreational vehicle (RV) on a residential lot. The decision was made at the April 13 regular meeting of council.
Councillors discussed bylaw 1678-22, the fee schedule bylaw about which Director of Municipal Services Andrew Brysiuk noted in his report that councillors needed to make a decision on whether or not to continue requiring registration and fees for certain RV parking.
Readers should note the registration system and fee schedule were developed to address complaints about the growing number of RVs being parked on residential lots, particularly in the Buffalo Lake region.
A fee of $25 was included last year but waived for the entire 2021 season.
“When temporary RV tags were introduced to regulate the use of RV’s for a period of less than 21 days, council implemented a fee of $25 but waived the fee up until Dec. 31, 2021,” noted Brysiuk in his report.
“Administration is seeking direction on whether to continue with the fee, abolish it, or waive it again.
“The $25 fee may not offset the increased cost of processing payment.”
Brysiuk explained the county has a self-serve portal available on its website for RV owners to register, but the portal doesn’t accept payment; if council wanted the fee to kick in, the portal would require upgrading to that end.
Coun. Les Stulberg stated he was in favour of waiving the fee again for 2022, noting it would be difficult to process and he’d also field a number of calls over this issue. Apparently some county residents are concerned about how these rules apply to events in the farm community like family reunions.
Coun. Justin Stevens agreed, stating he’d be in favour of a “…more targeted approach,” adding he felt the tags address a more urban problem that may not exist in the rural area and that the fee should be waived for 2022.
Stevens stated he felt the rural community that hosts events like farm weddings should be protected from “unintended consequences.”
Coun. James Nibourg agreed that the fee could be waived but also noted the tags appear to have had the desired effect. He noted this approach could help address “pop-up campgrounds” in his division.
Nibourg suggested waiving the fee for 2022 and discussing how this program could be tweaked to accommodate the rural community.
Reeve Larry Clarke stated the program was brought in for a reason, and questioned whether the tags would ever really be a problem in the rural community because the program is complaint-driven, and he felt an RV or two on hundreds of acres of farmland would not receive the complaints an RV or two on 1.5 acres of land would receive, for example.
Coun. Ernie Gendre agreed the bylaw applies more to an urban lifestyle. He also asked if the 21 day restriction could be discussed, but staff noted the current discussion was only about the $25 fee.
Councillors passed all readings necessary to bring the bylaw into force with the amendment that the $25 fee would be waived for 2022.
Stu Salkeld
Local journalism initiative reporter
ECA Review
