Montana City Commissioners To Consider RV, Large Vehicle Parking Rule

The Great Falls City Commissioners will review a proposal to amend the regulations for parking large vehicles and RVs on city streets, a report said.

For years, complaints have been made by residents about long-term storage and/or parking of RVs, boats, and trailers on residential streets.

Because the majority of the commissioners are concerned about the rise in COVID-19 cases locally, the meeting will be held virtually.

Residents raised concerns about an RV that was parked in their area a few months back at a City Commission meeting. They also renewed the discussion on changing the code which, for over a decade, the commissioners had not pursued.

Staff from the City presented a draft ordinance to the July 20 session. They also incorporated suggestions from the meeting into the draft that was presented at the mid-August commission meeting.

These elements are included in the updated proposed ordinance:

• New definitions for a class of vehicles designated as “recreational vehicle,” “utility trailer” and “vessel;”
• A new provision that only allows such vehicles to be temporarily parked in a residential district for the limited purpose of loading and unloading, with that “temporary” period being no more than 36 hours in any 7 day period;
• A provision requiring written 24-hour notice to remove prior to the issuance of any parking citation; and
• Provisions incorporating the new parking restriction into the standard parking enforcement framework of Title 10, i.e., enforcement of unpaid citations, the potential for immobilization of a vehicle in the event of multiple unpaid citations, and the potential for enforcement of unpaid citations in Municipal Court.

Like other parking violations, Title 10 of the city code would apply to this proposed ordinance. The Commission resolution includes a public hearing.

The ordinance proposed makes the rule enforceable by Great Falls police officers, community services officers, and any other person designated by the city manager.

If the ordinance is approved, its enforcement would be:

• complaint-driven, with complaints, generally addressed in order of receipt (except in the case of a clear safety hazard); and
• incorporated into the existing staffing and workload environments for GFPD and other city departments, meaning that response times will be dictated by the capacity of existing city staff to accommodate this new task into their workflow.

Those code changes were also approved on the first reading at the Aug. 17 commission meeting. They will be discussed during a public hearing on September 7.