Kenai staff seek clearer rules for tents, RVs and other temporary dwelling units

Planning Director Butner told the Planning and Zoning Commission on Jan. 28 that staff are revising municipal code language to close gaps that allowed what neighbors described as temporary “fish camps” to appear on vacant lots.

“Right now the only thing we really had to stand on for any kind of enforcement was the sanitary facilities,” Butner said, noting that when porta-potties and dumpsters were provided earlier this year the city lacked other legal grounds to prohibit a short-term campground use.

Butner proposed substituting the word “camping” with a more precise term and creating a standalone section in Title 14 to define “temporary dwelling unit.” The draft definitions would include tents, travel trailers, truck-bed campers, chassis-mounted units and other commercially available or custom-designed units. Staff suggested limiting where temporary units may be located — generally rear or side yards rather than front yards — while recognizing exceptions for commercial campgrounds.

Commissioners and members of the public discussed whether to set a short maximum stay (staff noted examples in other states that range between five and seven days). Butner said staff would research options including whether the limit should be consecutive days or cumulative within a period and whether Alaska landlord-tenant thresholds offer a useful benchmark.

Several commissioners urged a primary-structure requirement for residential lots to prevent individuals from buying inexpensive vacant lots and operating seasonal camps without oversight. Commissioners also noted the city operates on a complaint-driven code-enforcement model: Butner said planning staff received two complaints directly and the city manager had received at least one additional complaint relating to concentrated summer camping activity in one neighborhood.

The commission discussed using conditional-use permits (CUPs) and land‑use map adjustments to manage commercial campgrounds and to require sanitary and refuse facilities where appropriate. Butner said staff will research tenant-law thresholds, review complaints back five years, refine definitions (including replacing the word “camping”), and return with updated code language and maps for additional work sessions.

The commission did not adopt new regulations at the meeting; staff will bring proposed language and mapping back for further review and formal action.