{"id":3635,"date":"2025-06-25T12:22:43","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T12:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rvparkiq.com\/industry-insights\/?p=3635"},"modified":"2025-09-24T15:17:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T15:17:26","slug":"zoning-rules-has-been-updated-to-expand-rv-parks-in-springdale-ar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rvparkiq.com\/industry-insights\/zoning-rules-has-been-updated-to-expand-rv-parks-in-springdale-ar\/","title":{"rendered":"Zoning Rules Has Been Updated to Expand RV Parks in Springdale, AR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- VideographyWP Plugin Message: Automatic video embedding prevented by plugin options. --><br \/>\n<figure style=\"width: 704px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/media.tegna-media.com\/assets\/KFSM\/images\/49d34035-45b4-40af-bff7-e9c0af96d052\/20250625T233441\/49d34035-45b4-40af-bff7-e9c0af96d052_1920x1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"704\" height=\"396\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Springdale updates zoning rules to expand RV parks<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #222222;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lato, Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">As Springdale continues to grow alongside the rest of Northwest Arkansas, city leaders updated long-standing zoning laws to meet changing housing needs and clear the way for more RV parks as a flexible, short-term option for the area\u2019s expanding workforce and population.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #222222;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lato, Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Springdale\u2019s population now sits just above 89,000, an increase of about 13,000 since 2014.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #222222;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lato, Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">&#8220;In Northwest Arkansas, when you have all this growth and development, you&#8217;ve got a lot of those people that are coming in. And what we found is that a lot of those folks that are coming in for a short term love that RV park lifestyle, versus trying to stay in a hotel,\u201d said Derek Gibson, an investor in Ozark RV Park.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #222222;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lato, Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Gibson\u2019s request to expand the Ozark RV Park was denied last December. But on Tuesday night, the Springdale City Council approved updates to a more than 20-year-old zoning ordinance in a 6-1 vote, paving the way for RV park growth in the city.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #222222;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lato, Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">&#8220;We think we can bring 40 to 50 more spots into our RV park,\u201d Gibson said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #222222;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lato, Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Recognizing the need for change, Springdale\u2019s Planning Director Sharon Tromburg and her team spent months reviewing and updating the city\u2019s zoning laws. The new ordinance outlines specific design, location, and safety requirements for future RV parks.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #222222;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lato, Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">&#8220;The current standards that had been developed years ago were, frankly, outdated,&#8221; Tromburg said. &#8220;They did not align with the current development rules that we put forth with commercial developments. Whether it was stormwater management, emergency access, traffic flows, or utilities, there were a lot of issues that needed to be addressed.&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #222222;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lato, Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Though Springdale previously allowed RV parks in limited zoning districts, the new ordinance creates a separate zoning classification, opening the door for additional development.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #222222;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lato, Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">&#8220;Creating a separate district for it will open up the opportunities for different RV parks in Springdale,\u201d Tromburg explained.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #222222;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lato, Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">As for concerns about RV parks encroaching on residential neighborhoods, Tromburg says the ordinance includes protections.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #222222;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lato, Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">&#8220;If an RV park is proposed next to single-family residential or any type of residential zoning, there is a requirement of a 200-foot buffer setback,&#8221; she said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #222222;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lato, Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">There are currently no proposals to build new RV parks in Springdale, but Tromburg says the updated ordinance could help ease the city\u2019s housing shortage by offering a temporary, flexible solution.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #222222;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lato, Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">&#8220;We might see seasonal workers or traveling professionals, individuals in transition,\u201d she said. \u201cSo in the context of housing shortage, the RV parks do offer an alternative that meets immediate shelter needs without requiring permanent infrastructure or long-term commitments for housing.&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.5newsonline.com\/article\/news\/local\/springdale-zoning-rules-rv-parks\/527-068aa054-5177-4961-908d-251ecb689770\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #222222;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lato, Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Source<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As Springdale continues to grow alongside the rest of Northwest Arkansas, city leaders updated long-standing zoning laws to meet changing housing needs and clear the way for more RV parks as a flexible, short-term option for the area\u2019s expanding workforce and population. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Springdale\u2019s population now sits just above 89,000, an increase of about 13,000 since 2014. &#8220;In Northwest Arkansas, when you have all this growth and development, you&#8217;ve got a lot of those people that are coming in. And what we found is that&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3636,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[40],"tags":[],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rvparkiq.com\/industry-insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3635"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rvparkiq.com\/industry-insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rvparkiq.com\/industry-insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rvparkiq.com\/industry-insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rvparkiq.com\/industry-insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3635"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rvparkiq.com\/industry-insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3637,"href":"https:\/\/rvparkiq.com\/industry-insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3635\/revisions\/3637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rvparkiq.com\/industry-insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rvparkiq.com\/industry-insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rvparkiq.com\/industry-insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rvparkiq.com\/industry-insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}