Coral Springs, which decades ago forced a legacy of tough codes, had extended an olive branch to residents who wanted to finally be able to park their recreational vehicles in driveways.
The city’s experiment didn’t go as well as officials hoped: Its pilot program last year opened up a “Pandora’s box” of issues, where people weren’t even following the relaxed rules. As inspectors swept through the city, they were finding hundreds of violations.
Many communities in Florida have long wrangled with the question of whether allowing recreational vehicles, such as truck campers, motorcoaches, boats and airboats, could be allowed in residential areas to some degree without ruining communities’ appeal. In Coral Springs, what officials saw was enough to end the program.
“It just didn’t work out,” Commissioner Joshua Simmons said. “We need to make sure people are following the rules to make sure Coral Springs looks like Coral Springs. People didn’t follow suit.”
Here’s what happened.
Adjusting the rules
The idea for the pilot program that started in 2022 was inspired by residents who wanted the weekend to prepare their campers and boats. They wanted to have their vehicles nearby to make their weekend preparations easier.
They sought that in Coral Springs, a city that long ago drew attention for its tough rules to keep its upscale motif.
In 1975, the city refused to allow McDonald’s to put up its famous Golden Arches outside a Sample Road store, which became the first in the company’s history to be built without its trademark. The incident later became immortalized as a Trivial Pursuit game question.
The big K outside Kmart wasn’t allowed, back in the days when the discount store existed, and the city historically banned billboards advertising the gas prices at service stations (although that was amended in 2018 to allow service stations to display prices on monument signs and on the sides of the pumps facing the street).
But the city decided to proceed with the recreational vehicle pilot program, which allowed residents to park the vehicles with some conditions: Only on the weekends (extended if the following Monday is a federal holiday) and only in their driveways so it doesn’t kill the grass.
Ten types of vehicles met the definition of recreational vehicles, including campers and boats.
The program also allowed businesses to park commercial vehicles in the front of their business after 9 p.m., or when all businesses in the plaza close, whichever is earlier.
Once the program began, soon there were signs that people weren’t sticking to the rules.
Finding violations
City leaders said residents abused the trial run and nearly 300 violations were recorded after three random sweeps, including parking during unapproved hours, parking on unapproved surfaces, and failure to keep boats or RVs in “good aesthetic condition.”
Code enforcers, joined by the police department, carried out sweeps covering the entire city. They took place at various times from late 2022 and 2023. The sweeps recorded 270 violations, most of those commercial vehicles, George Soberon, the city’s code compliance manager, told city leaders at a workshop.
Commissioner Joy Carter, who had been a proponent of the trial run, agreed at a city workshop that the program “has been abused.”
And although residents had lobbied city commissioners by email and phone to make the change, Carter bemoaned that despite “all of the people who were all over us to give it a try,” there had been “not a single ‘thank you’” for their efforts.
Ending the program
The decision to revert back to the original codes was unanimous: The City Commission agreed to end the 18-month effort.
“One of our strategic goals is to be an attractive community, which includes preserving and enhancing the appearance of the city’s neighborhoods and unfortunately the change to our ordinance resulted in a negative impact on city aesthetic,” said city spokeswoman Lindsey Steinberg.
Of the pilot program, Soberon concluded at a meeting: “It was definitely a good exercise.”
Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash