A thorough review of RV parking rules is currently underway by the Regional District of Nanaimo to provide clarity and make improvements.
According to the RDN, the review of Bylaw 500 will be done in three phases and is being updated for residents to make it easier to understand and for the district to communicate and remove any inconsistencies.
The RDN says during the review they have received several questions about the bylaw especially when it comes to recreational vehicles and how long they can stay in a resort vehicle park, citing the current bylaw as unclear and confusing.
“The use of terms temporary, seasonal and periodic, in relation to the use of recreational vehicles in resort vehicle parks was identified as unclear,” they say.
To address confusion, the proposal was to remove ‘Resort Vehicle Park’ as a use and replace it with ‘Recreational Vehicle Park’ in the bylaw.
“The bylaw change would provide clarity on length of stay and what is meant by temporary accommodation as ‘Recreational Vehicle Park’, as a use, includes a limit to the length of stay of not more than six months in a calendar year,” the district said.
The Electoral Area Services Committee has reviewed the draft bylaw and the district says staff has already made recommendations that would suspend enforcement on people living in recreational vehicles as of Jun. 19. The district adds after several concerns raised by the public, motions were put forward and will now go to future board meetings.
The board is currently looking at providing clarification and “housekeeping” for the bylaw review, but says they still need to address language which will provide clarity and help remove obstacles to allowing tiny homes.
Finally, the review will be flexible to address outstanding issues such as zoning on parkland, campground regulations and standards.
A draft bylaw is scheduled to be ready for first review in July.
