Okotoks: Residents support easing regulations in summer months Wheel file photo

Okotoks residents Scott and Amber Harding stand on a concrete extension they had put on their driveway to park their trailer. However, they are disappointed with a town council decision upholding rules limiting RV parking on driveways to 72 hours.

Motorhomes and RV trailers will have to remain in storage through summer as Okotoks council voted unanimously on Monday, May 14 to continue upholding existing rules banning parking of RVs on driveways for no more than three days.

The decision was made in spite of public support for an alternate plan that would’ve allowed people to park their RVs on their driveways during the summer camping season.

Coun. Ed Sands said it was a tough decision and the Town needs to set clear rules regarding parking RVs on front driveways.

The lots are getting smaller, there’s less opportunity to get anything in, nobody has side yards anymore, he said. The issue isn’t the tent trailers, the issue is the 29-foot, huge, monster trailers.

Existing rules limiting the length of time an RV can be parked on a front driveway to 72 hours were upheld. They must be stored off-site the rest of the time, however, anyone with an alley behind their home can store RVs in their backyards.

Councillors opposed an alternate proposal to allow parking on driveways in residential areas between May 15 and Oct. 15 and the 72-hour limit would be in place for the rest of the year.

A majority of Okotoks residents who responded to public consultation on the issue supported the second option. The Town received 948 responses from an open house, e-mails and an on-line survey with 60 per cent of respondents supported expanding RV parking for the summer months, while 40 per cent supported the status quo.

Opinion was largely split on the issue with those supporting the alternate plan saying it would be more convenient and save them the cost of storing their RVs in private facilities outside of town. Others said easing the restrictions would reduce visibility on residential roads and impact the aesthetics of neighbourhoods across town.

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Council goes against survey and upholds RV parking rules

The Westport HD 15L LNG engine will be available in North America starting early 2013.

5/18/2012 Westport Offering HD15L LNG Engine for Class 8 Trucking

With up to 550 horsepower and 1850 pounds-feet of torque, the engine is targeted for heavy haul vocations with demanding performance requirements. This power/torque option for North America now matches what has been available in Australia for more than three years. It should be available in early 2013.

The Westport HD 15L will feature an optimized emissions equipment system, tailored specifically to the lower emissions profile of natural gas to reduce cost and weight and improve operation and reduce user intervention.

Other enhancements from Westport include:

– Eaton Ultrashift Plus AMT is now available in all Kenworth and Peterbilt configurations in North America for fleets that desire additional driver options.

– Available on Peterbilt Motors’ 367 SB, Westport HD now offers 16,000-pound front axles as demanded by a number of vocational applications.

For more information, go to www.westport-hd.com.

Engines & Transmissions: Related News

5/18/2012-Westport Offering HD15L LNG Engine for Class 8 Trucking Westport Innovations announced a broad range of product enhancements, including the availability of the Westport HD 15L in North America. … More >

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Engines & Transmissions: Related News

Andy Isaacson for The New York Times

Driving through California’s remote northeast. More Photos

I HAVE spent the night in a Walmart parking lot. I have driven through a national park with a trail of cars in my rearview mirror. I have learned how to dispose of my waste through a plastic hose, and I have filled my gas tank more times in one week than I thought was possible.

But this is to be expected when youre driving a small studio apartment, or, as I began to call it, my rig. One man in a rural California border town even called it cute. He said it reminded him of a Doritos delivery truck.

The rig was a 19-foot-long, gleaming white, class-C motor home an RV that I rented from Cruise America, the countrys largest recreational vehicle rental company; 800-RV-4RENT was prominently emblazoned across the exterior, as were colorful images of Americas national parks and natural patrimony.

It was a proverbial flag patch sewn on a backpack, and as someone who makes an effort to downplay the fact that Im a tourist when I travel, this granted no disguise. And just as well: I had never driven an RV before, and for this I could say I had never experienced my own country as millions do every summer, and have for more than a century.

When I booked the RV online a couple of months earlier, I found myself signing up for not so much a mode of transportation as a set of desirable feelings. With a Cruise America RV, the Web site said, you can roam wherever your spirit takes you, throughout the US and Canada. And with a full kitchen in your RV, you can skip out on endless drive-through menus and enjoy more satisfying meals and snacks. Roam, spirit, satisfying meals: these are not the sort of words used to tout a rental car or an airplane seat. An RV road trip promised the distinction of freedom and flexibility, comfort and convenience: a travel experience unencumbered by the need for reservations.

I enlisted my friends Tyson and Angelina, and we mapped a vague plan: Oakland, Calif., to Oregon and back, in eight days. Wed go where we wanted to go, when we wanted to go. Wed tour less-visited national parks and rural towns and sleep wherever it suited us.

RVers constitute a certain tribe on the road, and I learned that thousands were converging in central Oregon for what was billed as the Greatest RV Rally in the World. On a July afternoon, after receiving instructions in the Cruise America parking lot on how to check the RVs water levels and empty the waste tank, we headed off on Interstate 80.

Packing for an RV road trip is like preparing for a weekend at a cozy cabin. The luxury of space and the semblance of domestic life inspired me to carry things like candles and paprika, soft cotton sheets and extra pillows. I took sharp knives, folding chairs and musical instruments and put avocados and lemons in a bowl on the kitchenette counter. We hung up our coats in the closet, with hangers. As I drove the rig, Tyson and Angelina put away groceries.

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In a Rented RV, Roaming Western Roads

William DeJesus allegedly stabbed a man, his wife and two young sons before killing himself at a Broward County mobile home park. (CBS4)

MIAMI (CBSMiami) Months after the horrendous RV massacre in Deerfield Beach, the 911 call made by ruthless killer William DeJesus has been released.

For the first time we are hearing the voice of a man known as a monster by his own children.

In February, DeJesus held his wife, two sons Jesiah, 9, and Samson, 7, an elderly woman and her boyfriend hostage inside at a Deerfield Beach RV park.

Im inside a mobile home and they were going to kill me and my kids because theyre not white, theyre Puerto Rican and I had to hijack a lady, one of your New World Order people from Canada, said the crazed killer.

Test later revealed he was high on cocaine, amphetamines, morphine and opiates, which may explain the outrageous claims while talking to a 911 operator.

DeJesus eventually shot the man.

OK. I hijackedher husband attacked me and I had to shoot him, because the guys here from the New World Order that they workingthey told me they were going to kill my kids, said DeJesus.

While on the phone with the 911 operator, DeJesus told the dispatcher that he just wanted to go home while threatening his elderly hostage.

Tell them that if anybody shoots, Im going to shoot her three times and I got another gun and Im going to keep on shooting. Are you listening? Hello? DeJesus threatened.

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911 Tape of Deerfield Beach RV Park Attack Released

Andy Isaacson for The New York Times

Driving through California’s remote northeast. More Photos

I HAVE spent the night in a Walmart parking lot. I have driven through a national park with a trail of cars in my rearview mirror. I have learned how to dispose of my waste through a plastic hose, and I have filled my gas tank more times in one week than I thought was possible.

But this is to be expected when youre driving a small studio apartment, or, as I began to call it, my rig. One man in a rural California border town even called it cute. He said it reminded him of a Doritos delivery truck.

The rig was a 19-foot-long, gleaming white, class-C motor home an RV that I rented from Cruise America, the countrys largest recreational vehicle rental company; 800-RV-4RENT was prominently emblazoned across the exterior, as were colorful images of Americas national parks and natural patrimony.

It was a proverbial flag patch sewn on a backpack, and as someone who makes an effort to downplay the fact that Im a tourist when I travel, this granted no disguise. And just as well: I had never driven an RV before, and for this I could say I had never experienced my own country as millions do every summer, and have for more than a century.

When I booked the RV online a couple of months earlier, I found myself signing up for not so much a mode of transportation as a set of desirable feelings. With a Cruise America RV, the Web site said, you can roam wherever your spirit takes you, throughout the US and Canada. And with a full kitchen in your RV, you can skip out on endless drive-through menus and enjoy more satisfying meals and snacks. Roam, spirit, satisfying meals: these are not the sort of words used to tout a rental car or an airplane seat. An RV road trip promised the distinction of freedom and flexibility, comfort and convenience: a travel experience unencumbered by the need for reservations.

I enlisted my friends Tyson and Angelina, and we mapped a vague plan: Oakland, Calif., to Oregon and back, in eight days. Wed go where we wanted to go, when we wanted to go. Wed tour less-visited national parks and rural towns and sleep wherever it suited us.

RVers constitute a certain tribe on the road, and I learned that thousands were converging in central Oregon for what was billed as the Greatest RV Rally in the World. On a July afternoon, after receiving instructions in the Cruise America parking lot on how to check the RVs water levels and empty the waste tank, we headed off on Interstate 80.

Packing for an RV road trip is like preparing for a weekend at a cozy cabin. The luxury of space and the semblance of domestic life inspired me to carry things like candles and paprika, soft cotton sheets and extra pillows. I took sharp knives, folding chairs and musical instruments and put avocados and lemons in a bowl on the kitchenette counter. We hung up our coats in the closet, with hangers. As I drove the rig, Tyson and Angelina put away groceries.

More here:
Just Me and My RV

POSTED: 5:51 am PDT May 18, 2012 UPDATED: 6:08 am PDT May 18, 2012 TUALATIN, Ore. — A man being evicted from a Tualatin RV park was found dead Thursday when Washington County civil deputies arrived to serve an eviction notice.Police called a hazardous material team because of the odor in the RV, but no dangerous chemicals were found.Police say it appears the 54-year-old man died of natural causes.

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Man Being Evicted From Tualatin RV Park Found Dead

A family joke about living in an RV parked in a pole barn has led a Minnesota contractor to come up with a new housing solution for North Dakota’s Oil Patch: an indoor RV park.

Chad Lekander of Mahtowa, Minn., said he was researching possible business opportunities in North Dakota when he remembered his uncle’s idea to put an RV indoors.

Now Lekander has formed B&H Construction Cos. with partner Louie Bonneville to construct an RV park about five miles south of Watford City, N.D.

The park will consist of 10 buildings to accommodate 240 RVs and will be managed by NETA Property Management of Fargo.

The goal is to provide a safer, more comfortable housing option for oil boom workers who are forced to live in campers because of the housing shortage, said Bill Triebwasser, president of NETA Property Management.

“It’s basically care-free RV living,” said Triebwasser, whose company manages 500 apartment units in North Dakota and Minnesota.

The first 48 units will be available July 1, with another 48 opening every month after that, Triebwasser said.

Kenan Bullinger, director of the food and lodging division for the North Dakota Department of Health, said this is the first such project in the state.

“I think it’s a great concept,” Bullinger said.

The developers had to work out some safety issues before the health department approved it, Bullinger said.

See the article here:
North Dakota oil boom workers housing solution: indoor RV park

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMYEquvVQ_8

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Trailwood Mobile Home Community Video | Mobile Homes in Fayetteville – Video

TULSA – Robert and his wife say they had to sell their mobile home, so they could move.

Robert says they had paid off the loan five months earlier, but couldn’t get their lien release from their loan holder in order to sell.

Robert told us, ” We’ve made numerous calls to their office. They have not returned any of our calls.”

After Robert contacted the 2News Problem Solvers, we got in touch with the company, Westwind Properties, based in California.

A representative promised to look into the situation.

And a few days later, Robert had his lien release.

When it comes to lien releases, the state law that affects mobile and manufactured homes, is the same that affects vehicles.

It says a lien holder has 7 days from the loan payoff to send the release.

If that doesn’t happen, experts say there are steps you could take.

First, a gentle reminder, by certified mail.

More here:
Lien release missing for 5 months

by Jonathan Partridge | Patterson Irrigator Patterson Irrigator

Despite the setback, city representatives are working with garden committee members on setting up a new garden site, possibly moving it from Pipit Drive and West Las Palmas Avenue to a future park at American Eagle and Sperry avenues.

City officials met last week with garden representatives to discuss the matter, and so far everyone is cautiously optimistic.

Well see what happens, community garden committee chair Jenifer West said. The fact that at least theres some movement going on is exciting to me.

Adrienne Chaney, the citys recreation and community services director, said the city is considering placing the garden in the future Amaryllis Park on the southeast corner of Sperry and American Eagle avenues in the Patterson Gardens development.

The city is also looking at creating a demonstration garden there of native California drought-tolerant plants. The demonstration garden could help in the citys efforts to meet state mandates to reduce water usage in future years, Chaney explained. City officials are considering using rain barrels to catch rainwater, as well as using low amounts of pesticides and possibly incorporating solar panels.

Chaney thinks the community garden also may be a good fit for the triangular shaped park. She expressed enthusiasm about the community garden committees proposal, and she said she felt it was unfortunate that the previous site on land owned by the Stanislaus County Housing Authority did not work out.

When city officials reviewed the proposal for that site, they realized the project would require professional plans, Chaney said. Dual laws passed in 2010, both federally and in California, set out stricter regulations designed to help disabled people be as mobile as anyone else, and they apply to all places that are open to the public.

As a result, the community garden site would need a paved or compacted granite path of travel that is acceptable to a mobility device such as a wheelchair or a walker, said Jim Swanson, chief building official for the City of Patterson. It also would require plans by a professional architect to ensure that equal access is given to people with disabilities.

Unfortunately, when it comes to accessibility, we cant accept plans on scratch paper, Swanson said.

Continued here:
Community garden may get new home