Michigan’s Ishpeming City Council is hosting a public hearing to discuss a proposed ordinance regarding RVs, trailers and campers. The council wants help to draft an ordinance that prohibits the storage of these vehicles on properties within city limits.
Craig Cugini, Ishpeming city manager, said the goal is to prevent people from living in their vehicles and improve the city’s overall image. He said it won’t completely prohibit trailers.
“We’re not trying to stop residents from keeping their trailers and campers in their yards. What we’re trying to do is stop vagrants from camping and living in yards where they shouldn’t be,” Cugini said. “We have families that visit town and they want to stay with their family but maybe they need overflow. Maybe kids want to slumber party and they got a trailer in the yard and they want to go camping in the backyard. All of that is okay under the rules, but what isn’t okay is to make a trailer into a home on a property in Ishpeming.”
RV parking restrictions have increased throughout the nation over the last decade, primarily imposed by HOAs that prohibit vehicles from being stored in yards and driveways. Numerous cities restrict living in RVs on city streets, an issue that has risen significantly since the pandemic.
RV and boat parking restrictions by HOAs, cities and counties have led to a great need for professionally operated storage facilities. The industry has received much attention in the last handful of years from developers and operators recognizing a supply and demand issue, wishing to capitalize on profits from storage facilities.
Many RV and boat storage experts recognize a huge potential for entrepreneurship, likening the current toy storage climate to that of the self-storage industry in the 1990s, which is when the industry expanded exponentially.
The public hearing is June 20 at 6:00 p.m. at Ishpeming City Hall.
