Parsons city commissioners voted Tuesday to uphold current zoning regulations and not allow citizens to live in RVs permanently in the city.
The issue has been festering in city departments and commissions since the summer of 2023 and first came before the city commission in October of that year. The issue has bounced between the city commission and the planning commission over the last year.
Linda Philbrick learned that her living in an RV on her son’s property at 1106 S. 14th St. violated the city’s zoning rules in July 2023. Daniel Jones, Philbrick’s son, helps her live independently on his property and helps care for her. She has said she is disabled and has health issues, and the RV holds the last of her possessions after her husband died in 2022.
In October 2023, city commissioners told Philbrick she could continue to live in the RV while her living arrangement went through the planners and zoning discussions.
Since then, Jones has followed recommendations from city staff on making the RV a more permanent structure, including connecting it to Jones’ city water and sewer service.
Planners voted at least a couple of times to keep zoning regulations in place that do not allow permanent residence in an RV in the city, most recently in late December.
On Tuesday, City Commissioner Leland Crooks started the discussion, saying that he’s spent more time on this issue than many others. He cast a wide net for his research and the city staff has done the same. He hoped that the planning commission would approve tiny houses or accessory dwelling units in the coming months while updating zoning regulations. At that point, he said Philbrick will have to do something different with her living situation.
“We’re going to leave this the way it is and leave RVs not being legal to be lived in. But allow you to stay six months, eight months after they pass that,” he said. He suggested that Philbrick’s son could easily move the RV and build a tiny house on the pad.
“But letting people live in RVs is just not a good idea. It’s just not,” Crooks said.
RVs are not designed for permanent living.
“This has been a heartbreaker. I’ll be honest. This
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has been a heartbreaker for all of us up here,” he said.
Other commissioners agreed with him, saying they considered many options and actions but couldn’t get past the safety issues related to permanent RV living in a vehicle not made for permanent living.
Commissioners discussed the timing before the zoning rule would be enforced and related issues for some time before they voted 4-0 to keep zoning rules that exclude permanent RV living. Commissioners wanted to give Philbrick enough time to make other living arrangements after the tiny house or ADU regulations are approved.
City Attorney Ross Albertini reminded commissioners the issue before them was keeping the zoning rules in place, changing them or sending the issue back to planners another time. The timing of any zoning enforcement could be taken up later and could be tied to new tiny house rules, adding time for Philbrick and her son to put a plan in place and move toward completing that plan before she moved out of the RV.
Commissioners heard that two or three other people were living in RVs. Crooks wanted to make sure that whatever enforcement happened with Philbrick would happen in the other situations, although Albertini noted that the other RVs hadn’t had the same upgrades as Philbrick.
Commissioner Tom Shaw said there is a bus parked on 13th Street in which someone is living periodically. That must qualify as an RV as well. Albertini said that’s a different issue than Philbrick’s, as that person doesn’t live there permanently and the bus may not meet setback requirements in zoning either, where Philbrick’s RV does meet setback requirements.
