People are using RVs as permanent, rental housing. Here's how Walton County is cracking down

DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — The Walton County Planning Department has been given the go-ahead for a proposed amendment to the county's land development code aimed at curbing a proliferation of recreational vehicles being used as more or less permanent homes or being offered as rental housing.

An affirmative vote by the Walton County Board of County Commissioners earlier this month will move the proposed amendment to the Walton County Planning Commission, from which it will then come back to the County Commission for a final vote. Opportunities for public comment on the proposed amendment will be available at both the Planning Commission and the County Commission meetings prior to any final decision.

"What we're trying to address is ... the de facto RV parks that are sprouting up ...," Walton County Planning Director Mac Carpenter told commissioners at their meeting.

"We don't think that's a healthy condition for our county, or for these neighborhoods where we have concentrations of RVs," said Carpenter, who added that in some locations, collections of recreational vehicles effectively are operating as unmanaged recreational vehicle parks.

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A root of the problem has been requests for variances from the county's zoning regulations — sought through the appointed county Zoning Board of Adjustments (ZBA) — by property owners seeking to be allowed to have recreational vehicles on their property as a conditional use.

A related issue is that the land development code currently does not set a specific time limit for such conditional use, outside of stating that a "temporary use is one established for a fixed period of time with the intent to discontinue such use upon the expiration of such time."

Under the proposed amendment, temporary permits for living in an RV would be issued for a 90-day period, with an option to re-apply for a permit after 90 days, but with a limit of two issuances of temporary RV permits per year.

Additionally, the proposed amendment would limit issuance of RV permits to lots of between a half-acre and 5 acres within a limited number of areas zoned for agricultural or low-density rural residential uses.

Also under the amendment, property owners would be limited to using just one RV as a dwelling. 

A look at Oakwood Hills

According to a quick review of the ZBA's monthly meetings over the past year, the board has fielded nearly a dozen requests for the conditional use of recreational vehicles on various properties. The vast majority of those requests have come from a relatively small area known as Oakwood Hills immediately north of Interstate 10 and a few miles west of DeFuniak Springs.

Oakwood Hills is a mix of owner-occupied housing, rental housing and undeveloped land that last year was the focus of a massive cleanup campaign conducted through the county's County Code Compliance office. That effort sought to have property owners —many of whom are absentee — remove refrigerators and other improperly discarded household items from their tracts, and to clean up unkempt yards.

County Commission Chairman Mike Barker, who lives near the area, singled out Oakwood Hills in comments on the need for an amendment to the land development code regarding placement of recreational vehicles.

"A lot of variances have been given that are being violated," Barker said. "It's all over Oakwood Hills and it's turned into an RV park."

Barker also contended that people who get zoning variances are renting the RVs to other people.

"They're not living in them," Barker said. "They're running businesses out of them.

"My phone rings off the hook (with complaints)," Barker continued.

In the meantime, he added that requests for recreational vehicle variances are "happening more and more. We see these variances happening (at) every (ZBA) meeting."

"We have RVs getting variances to live on property less than 5 acres, and we have a lot of them that have no septic (waste disposal), they're not following (property line) setbacks (and not meeting other standards)," Barker said.

Beyond the immediate health and safety concerns, Barker contended that a proliferation of recreational vehicles being used as homes could work against more traditional residential development at a time that the county is struggling with providing affordable housing.

"When you have RVs popping up on every small 200-by200(-foot) lot that's out there, they (residential developers) are not going to build a house and try to sell it when there's an RV sitting right next to it that may be 30 years old that doesn't have any utilities or anything else hooked to it," he said. "It's just not going to happen."

The apparent abuse of variances for recreational vehicles also is punishing nearby homeowners, Barker added.

"It's not fair to the people that take care of their property to have this out there," he said.

Commissioners heard from two property owners at the meeting who have concerns about the proliferation of recreational vehicles in the north end of the county.

Paul Otto, who said he lives in an area into which RVs have been moving, told commissioners he understood RVs might be an option for people who need low-cost housing, but added that they should be maintained.

"I have family that's dirt poor, and I understand that," Otto said. "But you have a certain responsibility as an individual to take care of what you have, and I would like to see these folks (with the RV variances) be brought under control."

Another resident, Roy Houseman, told commissioners, "I don't want a camper across from my house to devalue my property."

"To allow the tax base to go down based on devalued property because of things like this is totally unacceptable," Houseman said. "I think these variances — these 'poor man' variances, or whatever you want to call them, have gotten out of hand in northern Walton County. It's up to you guys to fix that and I expect you to do it."

The proposed code amendment would not affect recreational vehicles, camping trailers and similar accommodations located in what have traditionally been used as fish camps and hunting camps in locations like Cedar Log Lake and Smokehouse Lake and along the Choctawhatchee River and Black Creek. Those accommodations are occupied only occasionally by people engaging in outdoor recreational pursuits, and have been used that way for decades.

"We're not proposing to disturb those particular areas, because that has been the traditional use," Carpenter told commissioners.  "People are not living there in RVs, they're using them recreationally ... ."