Following complaints last year about people parking their trailers both on and off the street and in their yards, the Grand Marais city council directed the staff to collect information and look at enforcing the current ordinance.
City staff conducted a survey of trailers last October and documented 22 that were potentially parked illegally. At that time a letter was sent informing the property owners about the city’s trailer parking ordinance requirements and a request was made that they comply with the ordinance.
A follow-up survey was conducted this May, and 18 trailers were documented. Of those, 10 were clearly parked in violation, including seven that had been previously noted. Five trailers were parked in a questionable area, and two were found to be parked legally.
The city council discussed the ordinance at their May 29 meeting and decided that the ordinance needs further review and updated before the policy is put into place.
The language as it now is written states that violators would get a notification that they are in violation of City Code Chapter 42, Section 42-30 that would read something like this, “that you are parking a trailer in a location other than the rear yard or inside an accessory garage, as we observed and documented May 1, 2019,” with a photo attached of the trailer parked illegally.
Council discussed just what the definition of a trailer is. City Administrator Mike Roth said it was, “trailers, campers and motor homes,” but there is some grey area’s in that definition that need to be cleaned up, he added.
Leave a Reply