The Cottonwood City Council approved updates to an ordinance regulating the storage of junk on private property at its Aug. 3 meeting.
Gary Davis, the senior planner of the city of Cottonwood’s planning division, first presented the issue to the council at its July 20 meeting, where he explained that the current verbiage of the ordinance has been cause for confusion and has prevented the enforcement of the ordinance in some cases.
“Some of the wording in there is outdated and unclear,” he said.
The ordinance regulates the storage of any “goods, services, wares, merchandise, commodities, junk, debris, vehicles or any other item” outside of a completely enclosed building for longer than 24 hours.
In order to better clarify what is allowed, the city changed the verbiage from “automobile” to “vehicle” and added the term “recreational vehicle,” which encompasses quite a few items.
Davis explained that last year, while amending an ordinance regarding tiny houses, the city created a new definition of “recreational vehicle.” Now, the city can use “recreational vehicle” as an umbrella term to refer to a large number of vehicles used for recreational purposes.
“What we’re able to do now is insert the word ‘recreational vehicle’ to substitute for a lot of those different types of recreational vehicles that were listed in here,” he said.
However, neither utility nor boat trailers were included under this definition, so the city added both items to the junk vehicles ordinance so as to be more specific about the enforcement of those items.
Now, items considered to be “junk” vehicles, or vehicles that don’t run and arent registered, are not allowed if they can be seen from any public street, and must be stored between the back of a building and the rear lot line, or behind a screened fence. Additionally, no more than two junk vehicles are allowed to be stored on a lot unless a conditional use permit is obtained through the city.
Additionally, no more than one boat or utility trailer or one uninhabited camper or travel recreational vehicle is allowed at a residence and cannot be parked in the front yard.
The council unanimously voted to approve the changes to the ordinance, and residents will be required to comply with the new junk vehicle requirements within the next year or the items will be removed by the city.
Mayor Tim Elinski expressed his appreciation for the planning division’s proactive approach in clarifying ordinances.
“I appreciate you all taking the approach where if you recognize there are some things that are causing headache out there … that you’re taking a corrective stance and making the changes ahead of time,” he said.
