Letter: Proposed change is inadequate

Published: 01-21-2025 11:12 AM

Residents will be asked to vote in March for changes to certain ordinances; one is in relation to recreational vehicle habitation. Starting last winter, we were informed by our code enforcement officers that there were so many (possibly as many as 20) of those situations that they were spending as much as one-third  of their time dealing with problems they created.

As it stands, there are gray areas regarding the current ordinance. The Planning Board wants to ask residents to vote to change the parameter for temporary occupancy of “21 days in a calendar year” to the 21-day limitation of “either consecutive or intermittent.” So they propose taking a gray area and adding shades to it that, instead of helping our code enforcement officers, will just complicate what is already very difficult for them and cost us additional tax dollars.  

When I went on the Planning Board as an alternate a few years ago, Dario Carrara asked me to help the elected members write ordinances with clear parameters, so that he might do his job better. Meanwhile the board has informed me at the Jan. 2 meeting that enforcement of RV ordinances is driven by neighbor complaints. It is suggested that the proposed change does not need further clarification, though at least two citizens brought this up at the public hearing and subsequent meetings. I see the consequence of this shortsighted terminology – driving neighbors and the town apart by making interactions adversarial and further frustrating town employees.

Residents should express their concern at the Select Board meeting on Feb. 4 or sooner, by contacting our town attorney Timothy Sullivan. With no plan to keep track of those “intermittent” 21 days, this is insufficient and should not be considered.

Rebecca Hull

Antrim