BZA approves city’s first variances for RV parking

For the first time since adopting an ordinance on recreational vehicle parking on residential property in the City of Greencastle in July 2001, the Board of Zoning Appeals has approved variances for two RV owners.

At the June BZA meeting, the board unanimously approved development standard variances on properties literally across the street from each other for:

• Mike Friars, 800 Sherwood Dr., allowing storage of an RV in the front yard of a single-family dwelling district.

• Lara Linn and son Aaron Free, 805 Sherwood Dr., allowing storage of an RV in the side yard of a single-family dwelling district.

The BZA had previously denied its only other RV development standards variance request in December 2021 on a property on Woodhaven Drive in the Southwood Village subdivision.

The RV issue arose locally after a growing number of recreational vehicles started popping up in driveways and front yards around Greencastle as alternate vacation options during the COVID-19 pandemic, causing the city to update its RV storage standards.

As adopted by the City Council in July 2021, the new ordinance allows:

• An RV -- described for purposes of this ordinance as a motorized home, motor coach, camping trailer, boat, travel trailer or snowmobile -- to be stored in the side yard but not extend into the required side-yard setback for the zoning district. If it does, it must be behind an approved privacy fence.

• The storage or parking of recreational vehicles in side yards must be on an improved surface, defined as gravel, stone, asphalt or cement. If gravel or stone is used, it must be contained within a defined area with a physical border of wood, metal or block. If a driveway is extended to a storage area, the extension must be paved in cement or asphalt.

• An RV may be parked in a front-yard driveway for four days as long as it does not extend into the right of way or block a sight triangle.

Local attorney Jeff Boggess appeared on behalf of Friars, detailing the unusual nature of the homeowner’s property, which really has no side yard and a back yard that’s a ravine. That makes it impossible to comply with zoning requirements of proper RV parking.

The property is uniquely situated, Boggess said, noting that “Greencastle has a lot of rise and fall to it ... there’s not room back there to store an RV.”

Friars explained that the family had parked the RV offsite out of town once and had it stolen.

“Frankly,” Boggess added, “they would rather not have it stolen again.”

Friars also pointed out that for parking in the side yard, the ordinance requires the RV be three feet from the home or garage and be concealed by a privacy fence.

“It’s a real tight fit,” he said if it were to be parked there. It wouldn’t have a fence and it would have to be on the neighbor’s property in order to comply.

A development standards variance is appropriate, Boggess reasoned, “given the nature of this property.”

City Planner Scott Zimmerman recommended approval, citing the practical difficulty of the terrain of the site.

Veronica Pejril, who chairs the BZA, agreed, noting “the property is basically triangular in shape.”

The Linn and Free request was similar with the approximately 30-foot RV sticking out about two feet beyond the front of the house because of an air-conditioning unit on that side of the building. A tree on the neighbor’s property also prohibits being able to navigate the RV into the backyard for parking there.

Free noted that he parked a tow truck in the same place for three years and it stuck out farther but he never received a complaint about it.

Pejril reminded the group that it was a “development standards issue, not a question of how big the RV is.”

In approving the findings of fact in the Linn-Free request, the BZA determined parking the RV in the side yard “does not significantly visually impact the neighborhood” and does result in a practical difficulty because of the property line and limited access to the rear yard.

Planner Zimmerman, whose initial recommendation on the Linn-Free case was for denial, stressed that “it is important to note what is unique about these (RV parking requests) as opposed to every other one.”

In the final request of the night, the BZA unanimously approved a special exception to allow use of the property at 1221-1227 Bloomington St., the former Feld’s Carpet site, as a mini-warehouse and outside storage in a general business district.

Manager Collin Boucher presented the Greencastle Storage case, which was required because the original special exception on the site went with the owner and not the property. So the BZA was essentially restoring the special exception after the Feld’s sale, Pejril pointed out.

Shrubs and trees are being planted as a buffer along the South Street side of the property. The planned Woodshire Place Apartments project to the east makes landscaping even more important, BZA members noted.

Zimmerman, in recommending approval, said the property “has had a long history of outdoor storage, but when property sells, a special exception evaporates.”

Joining Pejril and Zimmerman for the nearly two-hour BZA meeting were board members Paul Champion, Chris Hebb, John Phillips and Kevin Verhoff along with City Attorney Laurie Hardwick and Mayor Lynda Dunbar.

The BZA’s next regular session is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 2 at City Hall.