At the August 3 Mineral County Board of Commissioners meeting, the Commissioners voted to amend Mineral County “Code Title 12, Streets and Sidewalks” to regulate the parking of motorhomes and travel trailers on the streets and easements of Mineral County.

The new Ordinance 262A, Bill 278 was first proposed by Commissioner Curtis Schlepp at the July 6 County Commissioners meeting and adopted on August 3.

In looking back at the July 6 County Commissioners meeting Minutes, when the item about trailer and motorhome parking came up for discussion, Commissioner Schlepp said that there were some areas in Hawthorne where there was enough room for trailers and motorhomes to park on easements and suggested that the ordinance be remanded to state that trailers could not be parked on pavement, and that if there was an easement that did not obstruct a roadway then they should be allowed to park there.

District Attorney Jaren Stanton then showed the ordinance with the changes to clarify it, indicating that the amount of time a trailer/motorhome could be parked there. In the previous somewhat related parking code (Section 040A, Chapter 12.24), trailers or motorhomes could be parked in the same spot for 96 hours but that will be changed to 72 hours, 15 feet away from an intersection.

Following the original July 6 meeting, a public hearing was held before the new ordinance was approved unanimously by the Commissioners.

Commissioner Cassie Hall said that the discussion regarding this change of the ordinance has been in the process for a while, and the commissioners have all come together to make something work for as many people as possible.

“For safety concerns, we want to be proactive rather than reactive in this. It came to our attention that intersections were being blocked. A while back we had a close call near the park involving some kids on scooters and a driver due to the lack of visibility at an intersection, but it was nothing we could enforce,” says Hall.

“[This new ordinance] is not meant to discourage people from owning travel trailers or motorhomes or keeping them on their property, but they can pose a safety issue to the community when it inhibits visibility, especially near intersections.

The new travel trailer/motorhome parking ordinance will take effect on August 26.