Looking To Treat RVs Like Boats

RV Ordinance Could Be Changed at Next Council Meeting

By Monroe Roark

Gulfport’s current ordinance regulating the storage and use of recreational vehicles looks likely to get an overhaul within the next month.

Council directed city staff to bring back at the next meeting, scheduled for Feb. 7, a proposed ordinance that eliminates the setback requirements now in place for those who park RVs in their yards, and also allows RV storage in front yards, which is currently not permitted on residential properties.

A number of local residents spoke out on the issue and asked that RVs be given the same consideration as boats, for which there is no city ordinance and which are routinely parked in front yards of homes.

“It seems like the ordinance was written basically to get rid of RVs,” said Councilmember Paul Ray, who raised the issue at a previous meeting and asked for this discussion. “Things are changing. Things have changed. People are taking great responsibility and care of their property. I don’t think we are going back to the days where people are living in them in their backyard and they’re falling apart.”

Ray said he went door to door throughout his ward asking residents for their thoughts on the matter, and he also researched other cities in the region. He found none with ordinances as strict as Gulfport’s, he reported.

More than a half-dozen resident spoke on the issue during the public comment period that was provided, and all were in favor of loosening the requirements of the ordinance. Various RV owners reported that finding a proper storage location in Pinellas County is difficult to impossible, and some are storing their vehicles outside the county at considerable expense and inconvenience.

Marlene Shaw said she bought an RV in 2020 with the intention of parking it in her backyard, inside the fence on a pre-existing driveway next to an alley, which would provide security and convenience. She received a citation and was made aware of the ordinance, which left few options for her – all of which were difficult.

“I understand there is some history to this and I am sorry, but to me that history is not relevant because this whole situation is not sensible,” she said. “The [ordinance] will return the property rights to owners and would return RV parking to where it is consistent with boats and construction trailers.”

Fred Metcalf, Gulfport’s community development director, gave a brief history of the issue. He said there were 14 meetings between 2010 and 2013, including workshops, and several iterations of a proposed ordinance, none of which passed until the one now in place finally passed its second reading.

“That ordinance resulted in no changes to any of the setbacks,” he said. “It actually became more complex for people who wanted to

“I was working on a cattle ranch. But on my days off, I would go into the cypress heads to see native orchids blooming. It felt like going back 500 years. Everything was untouched.”

With a collection of nearly 1000 plants, Nunez’s favorite is Encyclia tampensis (Florida butterfly orchid), a star-shaped bloom with delicate, rusty petals and a blush of purple, first noted in the authoritative orchid registry of London’s Kew Gardens in 1830.

“Everyone should have it!” says Nunez, who propagates the Florida native for local nature preserves, including Clam Bayou.

Once the province of daring adventurers and elite collectors, orchid keeping has become far more common in recent decades. The FWCOS now boasts about 150 members, many of them younger folks drawn to the incredible variety and character of the plants. As Nunez explains, new propagation methods such as meristem cloning allow growers to produce far more plants, driving down prices and easing the pressure on wild populations, which continue to face threats from overharvesting.

Even at big box stores, you can find what he calls “speed orchids” – mostly Phalaenopsis and Dendrobium that bloom quickly and easily. But if you want something a little more intriguing, he advises, consider stopping in at the FWCOS annual show on January 28 and 29 at the Seminole Recreation Center. There you’ll find stunning displays of good quality orchids and knowledgeable growers to consult – growers like Michel Polen, who eventually shifted Art Stone toward selling statuary and orchids.

In the early Florida spring, row on row of blossoms dance and dazzle in his shop like a floral kaleidoscope. Strolling past fiery Cattleyas and leopard-spotted Oncidiums, and the Epidendrum that recently won him an American Orchid Society award, he pauses by a moon-colored Brassavola with long, trailing petals. Known affectionately as “lady of the night,” this orchid reserves its sweet fragrance for the night, when it can best attract moths. It’s one of dozens of highly specialized strategies orchids use to attract pollinators.

“These plants think,” says Polen, with admiration. “They adapt just like people.”

And what fascinating people they are.

West Coast Orchid Show, Seminole Rec Center, 9100 113th St. N., Seminole. Jan 28 & 29, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. $5. fwcos.org