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CONCERNED CITIZENS • Around 30 people attended Nephi City Council meeting to voice their concerns about long-term stays in RV parks.

By Myrna Trauntvein
TN Correspondent

Thirty people attended a city council meeting and most were there to discuss a 30-day limit for a stay at an RV (Recreational Vehicle) park and RV owners had requested they be on the agenda.

As an agenda item, several of the RV park owners were recognized and asked if they wanted to speak to the council but first, Seth Atkinson, city administrator, said he wanted to discuss the history.

“The council has had many discussions about long-term stays at RV parks,” said Atkinson.

The Nephi City Code 10.15.5.(3) states the following: “No space or spaces in a recreational vehicle park shall be used by one individual vehicle for more than 30 consecutive days, nor shall such space or spaces be rented or leased to any one individual for more than 30 cumulative days in any 90 day period. However, with the approval of the planning commission, one space may be designated for and occupied by a permanent manager without this 30 day limit.”

On July 27, 2021 RV park owners and some tenants attended a council meeting. The council listened to different ideas from the owners for longer term stays but no changes to the code were made.

“The council has taken the position that only after the RV park owners come into compliance with current code, will they consider making changes for longer term stays,” said Atkinson.

Since that date in 2021, very little has changed with the RV Parks.

“Police activity has been high at a few of the parks,” said Atkinson. “There continue to be safety hazards associated with the long-term tenants and one of the parks had a fire that was extremely dangerous.”

After much work of gathering information and evidence from the city’s code enforcement officer and city attorney, they were directed by the council to issue citations for RV park code violations.

Kyle Garrett and his wife, Keti, own the Salt Creek RV park at 22 Sheep Lane Drive not far from the Cinder Creek Event Center.

“I have lived in Nephi for 55 years,” said Kyle Garrett.

His grandparents lived here and his grandfather served in political positions. He had come back to live in Nephi and had worked to make his businesses a success. He is president of RMWT (Rocky Mountain West Telecom).

He was disappointed at the way the city had handled the situation and thought that it could have been handled much better than it was.

“The city has turned a blind eye [on the 30-day stay requirement] for 22 years,” he said. “There are all phases of life represented at my park.”

He said he had lived in RV parks in the past and that those living there formed their own community. In his 15-place park, one resident was a retired school teacher and another from Delta who had been there for 15 years. He had a step-brother living there who was blind. If evicted, they would end up at the city park.

“I will not kick them out in December,” he said. “We can work with each other or we can go to war.”

Keti Garrett said that she would like to apologize to Skip Worwood, council member, and Kasey Wright, city attorney, for the anger she had expressed to them over the issuing of citations.

“We have no low-income housing in Nephi,” she said.

The lowest price possible for an apartment was $1,200 a month. They charged $500 a month. She said that they did not do overnight camping and that some of her tenants only stayed three to four months.

“We have three disabled people and, by law, you cannot kick them out,” she said.

She said that if it came to that, she would not force people out, but would go to jail herself.

Or the RV owners could play the game of shuttling people back and forth between parks for a month each.

Alex Johnson, owner of Clothes Pin RV Park and also of Taurus Plumbing and Excavating, said that in the past 40 years, in fact since Bob Steele had been mayor, the law had not been enforced.

One person located at their RV Park had started adding on to the trailer. They had now moved on. It was a never-ending battle to keep things neat. There were houses in the city that were the same way.

“We go all over with our construction business,” he said.

They had stayed in some places for six months. They had been in Hurricane, they had a business location in the area, and found that some areas they did have a difficult time finding places to stay and construction workers needed to be close to work in some areas.

“We can’t get housing,” he said.

Lisa Brough, city recorder/finance director, said that the Frosty Freeze and High-Country RV parks have 10 permanent spots in each facility that had been grandfathered in long ago.

“I have never been this disappointed in a city council,” said Val Jones, owner of Jones High Country RV Park, 899 South Main.

He said that he could have been contacted by council members or by Wright prior to being served with papers. Later, he said, Wright had called and apologized. However, he still thought that there could have been a phone call to the RV owners that would have prevented the need for papers to be served at all.

“After the last meeting [July 27, 2021], I thought we were going to get together again and work to find a solution,” said Jones. “I was on the county commission for eight years. I know that being in a political position can be difficult.”

“You could have called us,” he said. “We don’t need to be served. People are a hell of a lot more important than policies.”

He was there to help people. He had built a wheelchair ramp for one tenant. The crew for Owens Corning were excellent tenants and had been out raking and cleaning up weeds.

“I would rather go to jail than force these people out,” said Jones. “I feel I got abused.”

“My park started out in the county and then got added in when the city annexed,” he said. “I have those spots at the top of the RV Park that are grandfathered in and are permanent.”

Rollin’ Home RV Park , 2888 South Four Mile Road, owned by Kalli Bowers, was not served because they have remained in compliance.

She said that she had rules in her park and she had her customers sign them. If they did not comply, they were told to leave. If law enforcement was called to come, they were also out.

In addition, she did not have any who stayed longer than 30 days.

“There are those who want to spend the whole summer,” she said.

That might be nice to have, said Bowers.