Camping Ordinance Under Review, Citizen Input Requested

Free street camping and designated camping areas are options; specters of Bozeman and Missoula raised

At the September 26 Red Lodge City Council meeting, an amendment to Ordinance 911 which has been under discussion in the Land Use and Planning Committee since March was introduced for discussion. The amendment which would allow camping inside city limits on City-owned land was discussed before it was decided to take it back to the drawing board and request public input. City Ordinance #911 banning camping on City-owned property and otherwise restricting camping on private property passed in 2014 in response to the problems that existed at that time. Currently, there is no overnight camping allowed on City-owned property within city limits unless it is in conjunction with a permitted event. There are, however, camping and RV spots on private property that were recently developed to address the lack of camping spots in town.

The issue before the City is if and, if so how, to accommodate residents who want to have their vacationing guests park their RVs in front of their houses, visitors who want to stay in town for events, travelers inconvenienced by Pass closures, and people who become too tired or intoxicated to drive.

Montana Supreme Court decisions and case law have clarified Montana Code Annotated (MCA) 61-8-1002 which makes it illegal to be in control of a vehicle while intoxicated. Through this process, “control” has been further defined as being in possession of a vehicle’s keys while in the vehicle, even if sleeping. Allowing street camping is not a solution to the problem of impaired drivers in town.

Existing State law permits unimpaired drivers to sleep in a vehicle while parked in any legal parking spot, and law enforcement encourages drivers to do so. Highway 212 through Red Lodge (Broadway Avenue) is owned and maintained by the State. Although the State’s agreement with the City allows the City to regulate parking, it is not City property and, therefore (unless there are other ordinances or resolutions to the contrary) tired or stranded drivers can sleep in their vehicle while parked on Broadway.

Councilperson Jenn Battles summed up the situation being addressed as: a couple of folks have said that they would like to have the City make allowances for people who want visitors to be able to camp in front of their house for a couple of days and also concern about sleepy or impaired drivers. She asked that the public contact the City with their concerns. With that, the discussion went around the Council table.

Councilperson Kristin Keys would like to start over with a new ordinance as she feels the amendment as written is “unwieldly”. Keys went on to state, “I would like to allow for, you know we have friends that come to town in campers and vans and I would like them to be able to park next to our house for a couple of days. And I think that’s a reasonable thing.” She believes issues that are happening elsewhere, like Bozeman, should not be addressed with this camping ordinance. “I think van life is pretty common now, and I think it’s a big tourism aspect. You know, we do it ourselves. We go places where we can bring our campers and camp out for a couple nights: music festivals, art fairs or whatever. So I think it’s an appropriate use.”

Councilperson Jody Ronning stated she has already heard from constituents who are concerned about the issue wondering where camping will and will not be allowed and how, once this can of worms is opened, will Red Lodge be able to keep from succumbing to the urban camping situations being faced elsewhere in the state. She said she would need the language cleaned up and to see more structure in the ordinance, such as designating specific areas for camping, before she would be able to vote for it. She further did not see the need to distinguish between, or to build in a preference for, non-profit as opposed to for-profit events in the ordinance. The cost to the City is the same for both. She believes there should be a thoughtful discussion including the public on the subject. She also reminded the Council that Ordinance 911 was put in place in 2014 because there were visitors camping in front of houses which put pressure on the available parking for residents.

Councilperson Shinta Daniels agreed with Ronning that the language needs to be cleaned up before she could vote for it. Daniels has family that visit in RVs, and she has them stay on a separate piece of land out of town so they aren’t disruptive to neighbors. She hopes others would show the same consideration. Daniels would like to see a cleaned up ordinance with designated areas for camping.

Councilperson Terri Durbin brought to Council’s attention the current condition of the streets and limited parking. She noted that residential non-commercial properties were not listed in the ordinance. She would like to see a map showing where camping is proposed. Durbin detailed further concerns, “And I will tell you, I'm concerned when I see non-commercial camping on private properties in commercial districts exceeding 14 days in the calendar year can get a permit at no cost and put it in their window. And so, at what point, I mean, we just went through limiting STRs, right? Everybody wants to put a limit on that. So where is going to be the limit on the number of trailers, RVs, or whatever we have parked on our streets in town?” She is not opposed to the idea outright, but would like some “real thoughtful consideration to go into this before we see it again.”

The mayor added that Red Lodge invites people to come to town and sometimes there is no place for them to park their camper. When the Pass is closed it “creates a hardship for people and a difficult situation for law enforcement.”

City Planner Courtney Long said she was glad to hear that council members want designated areas as that is the direction the ordinance is heading. Some of the areas that are being looked at are Coal Miners Park, the Dog Park parking area and the Civic Center. The designated areas would be for short-term camping and should have “minimal impact”.

Councilperson Kelly Heaton did not attend the meeting.

The entire discussion is below:

Below is an audio file of the entire Red Lodge City Council meeting of 26 September 2023. This may provide a better listening experience than the video.