County set to revise law for RV sites
Amendment would allow up to 50% ‘lot coverage’
Yuma County has begun the process of changing its zoning ordinance to make it legal once again for those who live on recreational vehicle subdivision-zoned properties to have up to half their lot covered by their home, awnings, sheds or some other type of roof.
The county Planning and Zoning Commission voted Monday to initiate a text amendment to the zoning code allowing up to 50 percent “lot coverage” for homes in the RV subdivision zoning district and two more high-density residential districts. The amendment will have one more hearing in front of the commission before going to the county Board of Supervisors for a final vote.
Enforcement of the county’s current rules changed about eight years ago, after residents had been adding shade structures over up to 50 percent of their property to protect their land and vehicles from the summer heat for decades, according to Danny Bryant, a commission member.
But county officials then interpreted the zoning code as stating all homes with RV subdivision zoning that used a septic tank could have no more than 30 percent lot coverage, instead of the rule applying just to parcels served by two septic tanks.
Owners who already had more than 30 percent lot coverage were grandfathered in, but once an awning or shed needed to be replaced, they couldn’t do it
without facing fines or other sanctions, Bryant said.
County planning director Maggie Castro said she isn’t aware of any shifts in the way the rule is enforced on the RV subdivision. “In my opinion we’re enforcing it the way it should be all along,” and there has been no change she’s aware of in how these are enforced.
The reason for this lot coverage rule is to ensure there is enough room for 100 percent expansion of the septic system if the tank fails, through the addition of a second one. The same requirement is not applied to properties hooked up to a central sewage system.
Bryant, who owns a manufactured home-building business in the Foothills, mentioned to development services staff there are other safeguards in the building code, which require proof there is enough room for septic system expansion before a building permit is issued.
Senior Planner Juan Leal Rubio told the commission the question was put to the county’s environmental services program, which is under the Department of Development Services. Officials there said lot coverage isn’t a factor when they’re looking for enough space to fit a second septic tank, with the ability to meet required setbacks the determining factor.
“They’re essentially saying we don’t need this rule, the administrative ruling can ensure that the expansion area is met,” he said.
Castro added that building permit applicants will have to show in the submitted site plan there is enough room to expand the septic system before they will be allowed to have up to 50 percent lot coverage.
Rubio said there have been at least six cases where property owners sought a variance allowing more than 30 percent coverage, and all were eventually approved by the county Board of Adjustment.
The proposed text amendment would also lift the same lot coverage requirement to two more zoning categories, R-2 and R-3 high-density residential. All other residential zoning categories allow yards to have up to 50 percent coverage, regardless of whether they are served by sewer or septic.
But the requirement has particular impact on the RV subdivision zone, where homes can easily reach 30 percent lot coverage on single family lots as small as 2,300 square feet.
Bryant praised the planning staff for how quickly they acted to get the text amendment started through the county’s approval process, and pressed them on when it would reach the Board of Supervisors for a final vote. Rubio said the earliest that could happen would be later in January, given all the public notice requirements.
“I know about a halfmillion dollars’ worth of projects waiting on this — $200,000 of them are mine,” he said.
Bryant said after the meeting that the companies most directly affected if the rule changes will be those who sell the accessory structures, not homebuilders such as himself. These include Westerner Products, an awning and outdoor shed business next door to his.
“Between the two of us we’ve had hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of projects denied, because of the 30 percent rule. Now that we think it’s going to be changed, all of those folks are starting to come out of the woodwork and we’re saying ‘as soon as we get this done, you can do what you wanted to do five years ago, and they wouldn’t let us.
“And so it’s created a nice little economic bump for all of the accessory companies there, the awning companies and the storage shed companies, and those folks who have been restricted because they couldn’t do anything new or replace a storm-damaged unit because of the 30 percent rule,” he said.