The Kenton County Planning Commission voted to table a decision on proposed revisions to Independence’s regulations on flatbed utility trailers as well other hauled trailers and vehicles, such as campers and boats, at their meeting Thursday night.
Megan Bessey, a project manager with Kenton County Planning and Development Services, gave an unfavorable recommendation on the city’s proposed changes due to several factors: The proposed regulations would allow for the permanent storage of trailers on private drives, which would disrupt the residential character of neighborhoods, she said, and the language in the proposed changes did not provide enough clarity and information.
After some discussion with Chris Moriconi, Independence’s city administrator, the commissioners decided to table a final decision on the revisions for six months rather than vote them down outright. This will grant Independence time to address the issues staff highlighted in their assessment.
“A lot of input from the public went on starting back in January, and it’s kind of evolved,” Moriconi said.
The city’s current ordinance prohibits parking boats, campers and other large trailers on public streets. Smaller flatbed trailers can be stored in a side yard if the owners obtain a conditional use permit, and people can park flatbeds on public streets for up to 72 hours.
The proposed changes would extend the 72-hour limit to 96 hours and would allow flatbeds to be stored in private driveways permanently if they’re kept clean and unladen. Boats and other larger towed vehicles could be parked on private driveways but only for 96 hours under the new proposals. Finally, the proposal adds the definition of a flatbed trailer as an open trailer with a length no greater than 30 feet from tongue to bumper, not including any gates, a height no greater than five feet and a width no greater than eight feet.
Independence began regulating trailers in the 2000s after the city’s code enforcement department began getting many complaints about trailers parked obstructively on streets or trailers kept in blighted condition. The issue resurfaced last year after city council member Chris Vogelpohl began speaking with residents who were either critical of or confused by the ordinance as it was written.
The city held a public hearing on the matter during the city council meeting on Feb. 6, where proponents and critics of the ordinance spoke about the issue.
“So there was quite a bit of discussion when we brought this up over the winter with the public at a council meeting,” Moriconi told the planning commission. “A lot of people showed up, and it was mixed really.”
Some recurring concerns emerged during the hearing: the exorbitant price of storage and other measures necessary to stay compliant with the ordinance, the 72-hour limit being too short and the question of whether the measures were even necessary.
Scott Paul, the owner of a recreational vehicle, shed light on how much it would cost to store his vehicle off-site.
“Two years ago, I called around to find out how much would storage cost me,” Paul told the Independence City Council in February. “And it was going to cost me minimum $900 a year to $1200 a year. That was two years ago.”
“Especially with these flatbed trailers and also with extending the amount of hours that they can have a camper, boat or an RV in their driveway, it allows our citizens a little more freedom,” said Vogelpohl at the city council meeting in October, adding that many residents rely on their utility trailers for income in the form of lawn mowing and landscaping in their spare time.
The Kenton County Planning and Development staff pointed to a discrepancy in the request the city submitted to the county about the allowed length of the trailers. The text stated 20 feet discursively in one section but then wrote 30 feet numerically next to it, making it impossible to know which length they meant. Statements from the city officials at the October council meeting show that the council members and mayor settled on 30 feet by the end of the meeting, but council members were not present at the planning commission meeting to resolve the ambiguity.
Plus, there were other things the staff was unsure about. Firstly, it’s unclear, Bessey said, if the new regulations would still require a sign-off from the county board of adjustments. Bessey also said it’s unclear from the language of the proposals how flatbed trailers are distinct from other trailers and how the city planned to regulate trailers longer than 30 feet, along with other issues with language precision and clarity.
The planning commissioners seemed to be unclear on many of the aspects of the ordinance changes as well, with several commissioners posing questions about which sorts of trailers and vehicle attachments would count under the ordinance. Others had questions about how the city planned to enforce the extra 24 hours in the time limit.
Ultimately, the commission voted to table its decision to allow Independence to refine its request. The city now has six months to revise its proposal and resubmit it to the county.
“I think tabling is probably the best because six months gets us back into the time of year where this becomes more of an issue,” Moriconi said, adding that the city wanted to resolve the issue soon, so they would probably submit a new request before the six months were up.
The next meeting of the Kenton County Planning Commission will take place on Dec. 7 at 6:15 p.m. at the Kenton County Government Center in Covington.
