Feb. 14, Page City Council unanimously approved Ordinance No. 723-24.
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Feb. 14, Page City Council unanimously approved Ordinance No. 723-24. The new law adds camping regulations, establishes park hours and amends definitions and penalties.
Camping on City Property
Camping is prohibited in city parks and recreation areas and within 500 feet of AZ Highway 98 or 1000 feet of Antelope Valley Road except where specifically authorized by the city.
Park Hours
Unless otherwise posted, park hours are sunrise to 10 p.m. This includes off-street parking areas for the park or recreation area.
Penalty
Convictions will lead to Class 2 misdemeanor fines and/or imprisonment.
Work on the ordinance began after Mayor Bill Diak and Chief Tim Lange had a conflict with a group of paragliders camping near Ranchette Estates off Highway 98. Residents complained about the noisy campers. Because the city had no law prohibiting camping, police didn’t have the legal authority to evict the Utah visitors and their RVs from city property.
The new ordinance allows for signage prohibiting camping and gives police enforcement tools.
Mayor Diak said, “We brought this up because we had a lot of complaints about a year ago with the area off of 98, the large dirt area that was an overflow parking during our construction of Horseshoe Bend [parking facility].”
Diak, referring to the spring break paragliders, urged the city to get the signs up soon. “Our problem time was March last year. March is just around the corner and they've already told us they're coming back.”
In light of recent vandalism in the city’s parks and recreation areas, park hours were added to the ordinance. The original draft called for sunrise to 11 p.m. hours. Diak, noting that many of the city’s parks are in residential areas, suggested changing closing time to 10 p.m. to align with noise ordinance hours. The ordinance includes posted exceptions to allow for city events and permitted activities. Council approved the sunrise to 10 p.m. amendment.
The new law becomes effective 30 days after adoption, March 28, immediately after spring break.
