Around 20 people attended the Town of Elon’s community meeting April 13 to hear from residents and recreational vehicle owners on potential changes to the town’s RV regulations. An identical meeting is planned for April 23 at Beth Schmidt Park Community Center, and any policy changes are scheduled to be presented at the May 26 Elon Town Council meeting.
According to the Planning, Zoning and Development Services Department, the current RV policy as outlined in Section 4.5.5.P. of the Land Management Ordinance says RVs must be stored in an enclosed carport or side or back lot and be fully screened off by a fence or landscaping; have a zoning permit; not be used as a permanent residence; and only park in a driveway for a maximum of seven days each calendar year.
Sam Lynch, a local RV owner who attended the meeting, said the current regulations were unreasonable.
“If you’re going on a trip, you need to clean your RV, you’ve got to pack it, turn the refrigerator on, and then you’ve got to come back and do it all again,” Lynch said in the meeting. “If you own an RV, then also you’re going to have to do maintenance.”
Elon Planning Director Lori Oakley explained that in the process of reviewing and recommending changes to the Land Management Ordinance earlier this year, the Planning Department discovered RV regulations were not being followed by many residents in the town.
Elon Town Council members Michael Woods, Monti Allison, Randy Orwig and Mayor Emily Sharpe all attended the meeting. Sharpe explained that staff changes in the Planning Department contributed to confusion and a lack of enforcement of the RV policy. Community members pointed out that the Land Management Ordinance is over 300 pages and suggested it was unfair to expect everyone to fully read it.
“It is all of our responsibility to know the laws of where we live,” Sharpe said in the meeting. “It’s a 300-plus-page document, you are not going to know every single aspect of it. But there’s also a lot of things that aren’t enforced until there’s a complaint.”
According to Oakley, RV regulations are currently defined and enforced under the Land Management Ordinance, which also covers permits for home renovations and local zoning regulations. The Planning Department proposed putting RV policy under the Town Code of Ordinances, which includes regulations for junk cars, loud noise and high grass.
Oakley also noted that the Code of Ordinances only applies to those in the municipal limits of Elon, not residents living in the Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) that encompasses the rest of Elon’s planning jurisdiction. Additionally, if the RV policy stays in the Land Management Ordinance, any changes cannot make the regulations stricter; they can only stay the same or become more lenient.
“If we decide to keep it in the LMO where it’s currently at and it changes significantly, we have to carry it back to the planning board,” Oakley said. “So that May 26 date might not be set.”
Sharpe said she has heard similar concerns about RVs as when the Land Management Ordinance was first passed in 2022.
“Some of the things that I know have come up in this conversation are the concern that they will be used as permanent residences, especially for students,” Sharpe said. “For every rental property, would this open it up for every person that owns property to now have an additional property on their property?”
RV owners in attendance remarked that they would happily comply with ensuring their vehicles don’t become permanent or semi-permanent residences. Others expressed aesthetic concerns over parking RVs in residential areas.
Elon resident and RV owner Erin Steder told Elon News Network that if people want those regulations, they should live in a neighborhood with a homeowner’s association.
“Go to a place that’s going to restrict it because that’s your intent, that’s what you want,” Steder said. “The rest of us come here because it’s not so restrictive.”
Steder said her family’s lot meets most of the current criteria for storing their RV, but not every resident has that privilege. She also said she wants members of the Town Council and Planning Department to consider the importance of RVs to many owners.
“RVing is a very affordable way to vacation,” Steder said. “Not all of us can spend $20,000 to go to Europe or anything else, so instead we might RV. We take our family on vacations with that, so having it at our home, there’s so many things to it rather than having it in storage.”
Members of the crowd also expressed concerns that a stricter RV policy would have implications for other vehicles and lead to excessive regulation in the town.
According to Elon planner Isabell Cooper, Burlington has no restrictions for RV parking, Mebane and Graham allow RVs to be parked in a driveway as long as they are not used as a permanent residence, and Gibsonville considers RVs to be vehicles that require valid tags and cannot be connected to the water or sewage system.
“I do think there needs to be some regulations, it’s just a matter of what exactly those are,” Sharpe said in an interview with Elon News Network. “For me personally, I’m going to look at some other municipalities that are more uniquely situated to what we are here in Elon to determine what they do, if anything.”