A public health ordinance passed last year may have some unintended consequences for the county's tourism business - at least according to one Lake Havasu businessman.
The ordinance regulates hotels, motels, recreational vehicle parks, campgrounds and other buildings or places used for temporary lodging.
Lake Havasu attorney Harvey Jackson told the Board of Supervisors Monday that the ordinance has caused some problems for his client, Sandpoint Marina and RV Park.
The park rents recreation vehicles as well as parking spaces for RVs, Jackson said. According to the county attorney's interpretation of the ordinance, if a guest rents an RV from Sandpoint for fewer than 30 days, then the RV is considered temporary lodging and must meet the same public health and safety requirements as a hotel room.
If it's rented for more than 30 days, those requirements don't apply. Jackson pointed out that many visitors to the park rent RVs from vendors, such as Cruise America or El Monte RV Rentals. These guests are allowed to park overnight in a spot at Sandpoint and are not required to meet the county's health codes.
But the same type of RV rented to a guest by Sandpoint is required to meet the county's health codes, he said.
Robert Tucker, vice president of operations from Sandpoint, stated that his park could experience an annual loss between $308,000 and $387,000 if he were not to be permitted to rent RVs to the public. That loss would likely end his business, he said.
County Environmental Health Manager Rachel Patterson said that the department had only made a few changes to the ordinance last year - one of which being the 30-day description.
The reason was because a number of older hotels in the county had recently been cut up into apartments, and the department wanted to differentiate between the two.
Patterson said the department spoke with the Arizona Department of Health Services about RVs and the 30-day language.
The state agreed with the county's interpretation of the language.
The Board voted to postpone a decision for a month to allow more time to look at the ordinance and visit some of the RV parks scattered throughout Mohave County.
Reader Comments
Posted: Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Article comment by:
George Morris
and of course this being the government we can't change the ordinance oe add an exemption to it.
What a bunch of dip----
Posted: Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Article comment by:
Ross Anderson
Anything to put the small guy out of business.Thats the American Way" according to the present Govt,from the the Cities to the Feds.GOD,PLEASE return us to the 50,s.
