Adrian residents speak out over proposed parking, storage rule changes

ADRIAN — A standing-room-only crowd of spirited Adrian residents fired back at the city’s planning commission Tuesday evening during a public hearing regarding proposed changes to Adrian’s accessory parking/storage ordinance.

The reason for a full room of citizens inside Adrian City Chambers was because the planning commission, as part of its complete zoning ordinance rewrite and update process, was proposing a handful of changes to the language governing where residents can park trailers and similar recreational vehicles on their property.

More than 10 Adrian residents, including Adrian City Commissioner Bob Behnke, addressed the planning commission as part of the public hearing and voiced their displeasure with the proposed amendments, which included new size restrictions and requirements that such utility vehicles be parked on improved surfaces and only in the rear yard.

The ordinance under consideration would have required RVs kept at people's homes to be no longer than 22 feet, which East Maumee Street resident James Trull said is nearly impossible because the average camper trailer is about 28 feet. His camper trailer, he said, is 25 feet in length.

Because of the public pushback and some changed minds on the planning commission, the proposed ordinance alterations were postponed until further notice after a unanimous vote by the commission.

Who has the final say on the matter?

The planning commission is not the “end all be all” on this matter, commission member Brian Watson said during Tuesday’s meeting. The planning commission makes recommendations for action that are passed along to the Adrian City Commission, which will review any ordinance changes, alterations or amendments and then act as the deciding body on such matters — whether that be approving the changes, sending ordinances back to the planning commission for further review or voting down the amendments entirely.

Many of the residents attended the public hearing because they are owners of campers, trailers, RVs and even smaller boats that are stored in their yards.

Watson said his opinion on the draft ordinance was changed after he received both written and verbal comments from residents and after he drove around Adrian to inspect the city’s recreational vehicles stored on private property.

From April 2023: Adrian City Commission to consider complete overhaul of 'outdated' zoning ordinance

“Some of the new proposed rules will put undue hardships on many people in our community,” he said. “I realized that this ordinance does not need to be drastically changed as we have talked about but updated.

“... As it is, I really don’t feel like we need to change the ordinance,” he said.

What did the proposal include?

The open storage of recreational vehicles such as, but not limited to, truck camper bodies, snowmobiles, boats, motor homes, camper trailers, travel trailers, all-terrain vehicles, utility trailers, boat trailers, etc., were under the microscope of the planning commission, which, per the proposed ordinance, shall be permitted only within a completely enclosed building or, with respect to vehicles licensed for operation on a public street, within the confines of the rear yard.

The proposal goes on to state that recreational vehicles must use a curb cut and an improved drive to enter the rear yard; have a length no greater than 22 feet; be parked on an improved surface such as asphalt, a concrete slab, or compacted stone; and maintain all setback distances required of an accessory structure of that size. RVs and vehicles of the sort also shall not exceed 10% of the area of the rear yard, and they are not allowed to be parked in driveways for a period exceeding 48 hours.

What does Adrian’s current accessory parking/storage ordinance say?

Adrian’s current accessory parking/storage ordinance says all utility trailers, boat trailers and other similar conveyance shall be permitted only within the rear yard.

“If we enforced the current code, that would take care of a lot of the problems,” Gordon Gauss, the city commission’s representative on the planning commission said. “It comes down to a lack of enforcement on our current ordinance.”

If the city does enact a more focused role of enforcing its accessory parking/storage ordinance, there will be residents — probably some who attended Tuesday’s public hearing — “that are in violation of the current ordinance,” Gauss said.

“We have that ordinance on the books, we won’t have to make any changes,” he said. “We can start enforcing it and that will take care of our issues and the city commission’s issues.”

Behnke’s concern, he said, was that his motor home has been parked alongside his house since he moved to Adrian nearly 10 years ago. He has maintained the appearance of his trailer while adding in landscaping enhancements to conceal the vehicle from his neighbor’s line of sight. The previous homeowner also parked his trailer in the same spot, Behnke said.

“For 10 years I never had enforcement, I never had complaints. I have landscaped around it and now there are bushes that help hide (the motor home) from my neighbors and so forth, except now I am in violation because it's parked next to my house and not in the rear of my house,” he said.

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Trull called the proposed amendments “aggravating,” but he said he feels OK about the direction of the planning commission now that any changes to the ordinance have been put on hold.

Several of the residents who spoke during the hearing said Adrian has other pressing matters that need to be dealt with.

“We have a homeless problem. We have a drug problem. We also have a feral cat problem,” Trull said. “... As people have brought up, (the city) has other ordinances. Enforce those ordinances.”

Why was the ordinance under review?

In addition to reviewing the ordinance because of the planning commission’s zoning ordinance rewrite project, the ordinance was looked over in response to a complaint that was filed with the city about an RV parked in the side yard of a residence, Adrian City Administrator Greg Elliott said.

“Before we took any enforcement action, we came to the planning commission and asked them if they were satisfied with the way the ordinance read right now, or if they wanted to consider any changes,” Elliott clarified. “And this discussion ensued. Now, I guess we are satisfied with the way the ordinance is right now. We’ll go ahead and enforce (the ordinance) if we get another complaint like that.”

If residents are found to be in violation of the city’s accessory parking/storage ordinance they will be cited with a notice to correct, Watson said. They might only receive a fine if the notice to correct is not completed within a given period of time.

— Contact reporter Brad Heineman at bheineman@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: twitter.com/LenaweeHeineman.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Adrian residents speak out over proposed parking, storage rule changes