The Good Sam Club’s Parking Rights Council came to the aid of Good Sam members Rick and Sharon Alm recently, and just in the nick of time.
In their home town of Las Cruces, New Mexico, the city council started considering an ordinance that would have required residents’ RV pads to be more than five feet from their property lines. Rick realized that he and many of his RV friends would be in violation if the new law was passed. He contacted the Good Sam Park Rights Council only minutes before he left to attend the city council meeting considering this ordinance.
Rick was advised that he may have “grandfather” rights because his pad was built before the ordinance was even considered. Rick went to the meeting and was successful in persuading local leaders to drop the 5-foot setback requirement completely.
When it comes to RV Parking rights, knowledge is power.
“An RVer came up to me and thanked me as well as did the codes enforcement officer,” says Rick. “The police chief also thanked me. I made all of their jobs much easier.”
The Good Sam Parking Rights Council consists of five Good Sam members who have had experience dealing with anti-RV ordinances like the one Rick encountered in New Mexico. In addition to providing competent advice and recommendations, the council can also help mobilize Good Sam members in your area to attend city council meetings and provide the RVers’ side of the story. They can also provide members with the Club’s RV Parking Rights Manual, which chronicles a number of local parking ordinances around the country and how they were resolved.
Current council members are:
- Terry Minger (Chairman) — Bartlett, Tennessee
- Tom Maurer — Wadsworth, Ohio
- Ken Ginoulis — Lodi, California
- Barry Larkin — Clayton, Delaware
- Jack Olney — Blackfoot, Idaho
To learn more visit our Parking Rights page, e-mail the Parking Rights Council, [email protected] or call at 800-880-0440.
Dan Patten
My wife and I purchased a brand new 38′ 2008 Montana 5th wheel. While traveling in it my wife started experiencing problems with her heart and respitory, twice ending up in the emergency room. I have also started having respitory issues I have never experienced before we bought the trailor. We have been to our doctors & had various tests and all checks out fine. My wifes symptoms are indicative of heart attack and we recently found out can also indicate carbon monoxide poisoning. We tested the CO tester that came with the trailor and it was not working properly so I have purchased and installed two new ones and we bought a mail order formaldahyde tester which came up with only traces of formaldahyde. We have contacted The Keystone company and ofcourse they say they have not heard of this problem. We are very frustrated as my wife is afraid to travel in our 50,000.00 trailor! and I can’t blame her until we figure this thing out. We do not want to have to start replacing things in the trailor at our expense either. Do you know if anyone out there has had these same issues with a Montana and what they did about it? We would appreciate any help in this area. Sincerely ~ The Pattens
Kent Oldenburg
This issue is still ongoing.