Chaparral board member challenges commission plan to not enforce RV code

By Charlene Sims

info@linncountyjournal.com

MOUND CITY – On Monday, Dec. 29, Lake Chaparral resident and board member Dean Norton asked for clarification on the opinion given by Linn County Counselor Jacklyn Paletta about a proposed moratorium on enforcement related to sanitation issues and year-round living in campers and recreational vehicles (RVs).

Norton said that according to county zoning regulations, RVs are not permitted to be used as year-round dwellings except only in designated areas such as La Cygne Lake, the Linn County Fairgrounds, and designated areas at Sugar Valley Lakes, all of which have been deemed designated areas.

“Commissioner  (Jim) Johnson has stated he does not understand how it can be enforced because the county allows it at the park,” Norton said. “The answer is because the park is a designated location. Outside of these designated locations and conditions, year-round occupancy of RVs is clearly prohibited.

“In addition the county has a sanitation code that explicitly prohibits the dumping of sewage onto the ground. This code stands independently of zoning regulations and is enforceable on its own. Separately, the county also maintains a nuisance code, which is distinct from both zoning and sanitation regulations.

“Given these clearly established and separate codes, I’m confused by the statement attributed to the county counselor, (which was) ‘I prefer a moratorium on enforcement of year-round camping based on the assertion that the regulations cannot be enforced or taken to court because sanitation violations related to long-term camping cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.’

“I would ask how are pictures of sewage not reasonable doubt? The zoning regulations already prohibit year-round RV dwelling. As such, the issue of sanitation should be secondary. The presence of an RV being used as a permanent dwelling is itself a zoning violation regardless of of wastewater disposal methods.

“Furthermore, the zoning regulations state that seasonal camping may only occur when the zoning director determines that the method of wastewater disposal does not violate any county law.

“Again, referencing compliance with the existing sanitation code. I do not understand why enforcement of these provisions would fail to meet the standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, particularly given that Linn County has previously prevailed in codes court cases based on the enforcement of both the sanitation code and zoning regulations as written.

“To me, it appears there may be confusion regarding the separate roles of enforcement mechanisms of zoning regulations and sanitation code. These are distinct issues governed by separate document, each with its own enforcement authority. From my perspective, the proposed moratorium gives the appearance of avoiding enforcement responsibilities and shifting the burden onto lake communities rather than applying codes already in place.

“Finally, it is important to note that the county sanitation code is required by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) KSA 19-3701. As we at the Lake Chaparral Property Owners Association have already been approached by KDHE, if the county chooses not to enforce this code I will have no choice but to report the matter back to KDHE for review that the county counselor is refusing to enforce it.

“All three documents , zoning regulations, sanitation code, nuisance code are three separate enforcement documents and do not coincide with each other. They were all signed and adopted by the Linn County Commission. Why were they signed and voted ‘yes’ on, if when something comes up that a commissioner does not like the commission opts to change it or take it out of the regulations?”

“First, I would like to respond briefly that in regard to the sanitation code and the other two that you mentioned,” Paletta responded. “Nothing that I said pertains to those only the year-round camping regulation as written.

“And the proposed moratorium was just in this interim until the new language can be written, because as you can see, in that year-round camping there is some type of grandfather clause provision in there that says if they existed at the time this was written – and there’s no way to to know who existed at the time that it was written – whether they’ve lived there for five minutes or five years.

“And so the proposal was only to give time for the planning and zoning to revisit the language of the year-round camping code so that grandfather clause that is in there is much more specific so that the codes enforcement officer can distinguish who, if anyone, it applies to or if we’re going to remove that altogether. So it was because of the language of the year-round camping that I proposed a moratorium until we can clean up that part of the language as it pertains to the sanitation code and any other codes, those are to be enforced as written. Yes, we previously won in code court on those.”

Norton said that he attended the public comment meeting in La Cygne in 2023 that was for input on the zoning regulations. He said that it amazes him that the something could be put in the regulations that could not be enforced when so much thought and time was put into updating those regulations.

Norton said he sat through that evening of public comment and there was an expert from Topeka who helped write the codes and the code compliance officer at the time. He said there was a lot of explanation, a lot of time and they told us that the amount of effort and thought that was put into those codes. Norton said he was not sure why the commission would have approved that if it was something that could not be enforced.

“I don’t have the language in front of me,” Paletta responded. “I didn’t know you were going to be speaking today, otherwise I would have brought the language today. I’m sure that at the time that it was written, it was apparent who already lived there and who wasn’t going to be subject to the new code.

“Now, the codes enforcement officer for the county has changed multiple times. To be able to go back to figure out who was there at the time that code was written and who wasn’t is an impossible task.

“And so it’s only that portion that is being reconsidered by planning and zoning. This is not striking out that code. It’s merely working on the language.”

“I just think that we’ve also realized that it may be impossible to enforce,” said Comissioner Alison Hamilton. “And from 2023, I think that’s where we are at. I think it’s impossible for one person to enforce.

“I’m not talking about the lake communities. You can go along any road. You can go on Scott Road. There are trailers that have been set up there. People are clearly permanently living in those trailers and we haven’t done anything about it. So, are you enforcing this in the lake community?”

”You’ve got to understand our covenants and bylaws do not give us teeth to enforce the code other than fines,” Norton answered.

Hamilton replied, “But you could change your bylaws.”

“We can change the bylaws, but covenants are a much tougher,” said Norton. “We are trying to have those rewritten, but those have to be voted in by the residents. It’s a tough task. We’ve been working on this for two years. You know I’ve been on the board now for a little over two years, and you know, this went on previous to me being on the board.

“I’ve been a property owner here for over five years. And it’s been an ongoing discussion since I signed the deed to our property. It’s talked about by everybody. But that wasn’t new in 2023 about existing people living in RVs and you yourself said that’s a countywide problem, you know, not just a (residential-lake community district) R-LC problem. This is a cascading problem because the more it is allowed people get away with more.”

“The rule followers don’t put an RV up and don’t live in it,” Hamilton said.  “And then those that do, they don’t know the rules and the county, we’re responsible for enforcing and we’re not. And so that’s the problem that I have with it.

“But that doesn’t matter. Our opinions really don't matter right now. It has to go to planning and zoning and they have to work on that if they want to change codes, regulations. You’ll have another public forum hearing, all of that. So it’s like our hands are kind of tied right now, but we are looking into the verbiage.”

Kansas state statute requires that the county commission vote to send a request to the planning and zoning commission to look at and change regulations. No motion has been made in an open meeting to send the issue to the planning commission.