RF Plan Commission recommends changes to City Council

By Sarah Nigbor

RIVER FALLS – River Falls residents may soon see stricter zoning ordinance and code enforcement regarding parking, recreational vehicles, public nuisances, residential rental uses and signs (think garage sale and political signs) in the rights-of-way.

The Plan Commission voted 5-0 July 5 to forward a recommendation to River Falls City Council for zoning ordinance and city code amendment updates. Commissioners Christopher Holtkamp and Rebecca Prendergast were absent.

City Planner Emily Shively said city staff has been working to identify best practices for updating the code, based on feedback from the Plan Commission, City Council and citizen complaints. Staff has also been creating a code enforcement manual to ensure that consistent processes and procedures are used to obtain code compliance.

“As conditions change, it’s beneficial to update the zoning ordinance and city codes to ensure that community goals continue to be met as new issues arise,” Shively said. “In response to issues identified in a report to council in June 2021, city council directed stau to proceed with enhancing a proactive code enforcement program over the next two years that includes more tools and resources to address emerging issues.”

The proposed amendments address:

• Parking on residential properties

• Public nuisances including inoperable vehicles and exterior storage of household items

• Zoning Ordinance and City Code enforcement

• Residential rental uses

• Signage in the rights-of-way The intent is to provide clearer standards in these areas so it’s easier for everyone to understand the expectations and requirements to protect the health, safety and welfare of the community, Shively said.

Parking

The current ordinance does not adequately address a number of issues related to parking on residential properties, Shively said. This has resulted in resident complaints and conflicts with utility location and stormwater management.

The proposed amendment will address parking standards on private property – location of parking, storage of vehicles (in good working condition), and surfacing requirements for parking areas. It also removes an outdated clause related to storage of equipment that is unrelated to vision obstructions and consolidates parking provisions into one code section instead of occurring in two places.

For example, there is no setback requirement stating how close to the property line you can pave a driveway, park, or store a vehicle. A resident could pave or park up to the property line, which doesn’t leave enough room for utilities, storm water, snow storage and may create encroachment issues with neighbors, Shively explained.

Vehicles must be parked on an improved surface, such as asphalt, concrete, brick, or other dust-free surface, not on grass or other landscaped areas. If parked on grass, yards may become rutted causing erosion to occur.

The ordinance amendment would require that recreational vehicles, boats, trailers, and vehicles be parked at least 5 feet from the property line and not within a drainage or utility easement. The 5-feet minimum also ensures separation between driveways and parking on adjacent properties, preventing encroachment issues or impact on green parcels.

Public nuisances

“This is one of the primary areas of city code where a lack of specificity has created challenges in communicating community expectations and addressing resident property maintenance complaints,” Shively said.

The current ordinance, while broad, fails to pinpoint some of the most common concerns, she added, such as inoperable vehicles or exterior storage of household items.

The amendment:

• Defines public nuisances including debris and abandoned or inoperable vehicles to provide more clarity for owners and staff.

• Prohibits exterior storage of debris and inoperable vehicles on public or private property

• Establishes standards for storage of goods and vehicles on private property

• Addresses what cannot be stored in a yard, such as appliances, household garbage, TVs, etc. The amendment also prohibits improper disposal or dumping of trash or moving it from one property to another.

“If a property owner has a car they are working on, they can have it on their property as long is it’s stored in a garage or shed or screened with an opaque wall or fence and out of public view,” Shively said.

The ordinance is meant to keep inoperable vehicles from taking up parking spaces and becoming unsightly and unsafe.

Residential rental uses

“Recent state law changes have impacted how cities are able to regulate and inspect rental properties,” Shively said.

In the past, the city had an annual rental licensing program that allowed the building inspector to identify potential health and safety issues on a regular basis, to ensure adequate maintenance and upkeep of rental properties. Current law only allows cities to have a required inspection program in areas that are designated as blighted.

To ensure that basic habitability standards are met in all residential properties, the proposed ordinance amendment adds language to the zoning ordinance.

• It amends the housing code to address habitability violations per state statute.

• Clarifies residential rental registration and complaint and enforcement procedures to ensure the health and safety of residential housing units in a manner consistent with state statutes.

• Adopts state codes and statutes by reference for contractor licensure requirements, Electrical Code, Uniform Dwelling Code, Commercial Building Code and Plumbing Code.

• Requires licensure of plumbers and electricians who work in the city, consistent with state law.

• Defines rental income and residential rent al uses; this allows for additional enforcement of rental property via performance standards of the zoning code.

• Classifies residential rental uses as a permitted use in all zoning districts that allow residential uses

• Establishes minimum space and occupancy standards for rental uses to be consistent with the building code and subject to requirements in the housing code. This would establish the minimum space needs for bedrooms and living areas so that landlords can’t designate a closet, attic or garage space as a bedroom unless those spaces meet the minimum building code standards for light, ventilation and egress, plus minimum floor and ceiling heights.

Signage in the right-of-way

“In a recent Supreme Court case, the court determined that signage can be regulated with regard to location, manner and duration, but not on the content or the message of the sign. This means all signs must be regulated the same,” Shively said.

In a nutshell, all signs must be treated equally, regardless of content.

Currently, temporary garage sale and real estate directional signs can be located within the right-of-way. The intent was to allow those signs for a limited period of time, Shively said. But since the city is no longer allowed to differentiate between any signs, all signs must now be treated the same. This has led to signs being placed in unsafe or inappropriate locations, such as busy crosswalks or intersections.

The proposed ordinance amendment:

• Clarifies a property owner may place a sign between the curb and property line in the downtown overlay district (sandwich boards)

• Requires all other signs to be located on private property

• Added a 15-foot setback from pavement for construction and political signs to be consistent with garage sale and residential real estate signs; this makes the place restriction apply to those signs. With the proposed change, no signs would be allowed in the right-of-way except required traffic signs and signs adjacent to businesses in the downtown overlay district. All signs would need to be placed on private property. And before placing those signs, you would need permission from the property owner to place a sign on the corner for a garage sale, for example.

“Since it’s not easy to know where the right-of-way line is, the requirement states that signs must be placed at least 15 feet from the curb,” Shively said.

Signs that don’t comply may just be re moved with no notice, especially in high-traffic areas where they be considered a hazard. The duration requirements for political signs have been removed to comply with state law, so signs no longer need to be removed after an election, she added.

Enforcement

Staff will work with owners and residents to help them understand the why behind the ordinances and provide assistance in finding resources to become compliant, Shively said. Below the process for code enforcement is outlined, which gives offenders about 34 days to become compliant before a citation would be issued. If people don’t agree with a citation, they can contest it in municipal court, Shively said. However, most times it doesn’t come to that.

Steps for enforcement

1. Complaint recorded/staff initiated

2. Inspector identified 3. Inspection conducted (one business day) 4. Violation recorded 5. Courtesy letter notice sent 6. Follow-up inspection (on 11th day after courtesy notice sent) 7. Violation recorded 8. Notice of violation letter sent 9. Follow-up inspection (on 11th day after notice sent) 10. Violation recorded 11. Final notice of violation letter sent 12. Final inspection (on 11th day after final notice sent) 13. Issue civil citation 14. City court Feedback

Commissioners were full of questions and comments before ultimately voting to forward the recommendation to City Council, with the amendment that RVs be allowed to back into driveways for safety reasons.

“So if you have family coming for a week to 10 days and staying in a camper on the property, a week to 10 days is no longer acceptable?” Commissioner Lisa Moody asked.

Shively said 72 hours is more than appropriate.

“We’re really trying to prevent the long- term parking and storage of RVs in locations that aren’t,” she said.

Commissioner Mike Woolsey questioned the clause requiring RVs to be parked behind a double gate/screening – he worried that the expense of adding a fence or screening might be too much for some people to swallow.

“Having to fence your vehicle or RV, when I go around town and I see a lot of vehicles, that’s going to be a lot of fences that are going to be ordered. I don’t know that we need that screening,” he said.

Building Inspector Dave Hovel said the fencing part is tricky when it comes to pop-up campers or RVs, because some thinks it’s a big deal while others don’t.

“To some people, as I always say, that looks like toxic waste to some people because their yard is immaculate and your camper looks terrible, and I think that’s the intent and al ways has been in the ordinance, you need to screen it from public view and the tarp doesn’t count,” Hovel said.

City Administrator Scot Simpson said staff doesn’t even completely agree on the best path forward for fencing, but has tried to come to a consensus based on Plan Commission, City Council and citizen feedback.

“In fact, there’s quite a disagreement about the pros and cons and the benefit of restricting people’s property rights vs. their neighbors,'” he said.

The city has had more of a hands-off approach to code enforcement, which has allowed people to have four trailers, a camper, a boat, a snowmobile, and more on their property, Simpson said. Many cities don’t allow this at all. He described River Falls as having a more liberal approach to private property.

Shively likened the possible extra expense of a fence/screen to having to paint or reroof your house occasionally, an expense expected as a property owner.

Look for the ordinance amendment to come before River Falls City Council at an upcoming meeting.