With a final debate, the Montesano City Council approved a new RV park code.

Currently, there is only one RV park in the city. That’s Monte Square RV Park. Soon, Mayor Vini Samuel has said, another RV park will be opening within city limits south of the highway.

Monte Square operates under a conditional use permit. The city and Monte Square have been in a dispute for longer than a year with the city saying Monte Square made changes that violate its conditional use permit. Monte Square says they were given permission by former city administration, but the city is unable to locate those records.

The dispute with Monte Square was not directly tied to the RV park code, although the discussions have intertwined at times. But if Monte Square were to go before the hearing examiner, they may be put under the new code’s umbrella rather than amending the conditional use permit, now that a code is approved.

Several concerns were brought before the council in past meetings, and most had been ameliorated during committee workshops and council discussions by the time the RV park code was brought before the council on Dec. 12.

One lingering issue held the code at council for a moment, with Councilman Dan Wood concerned about a provision requiring the RV park to collect a date of birth from park visitors.

“I’m creeped out by the idea that the city is telling anyone to record someone’s birthday,” Wood said. “I know when you check into a motel they ask for your driver’s license and a credit card number, and so businesses do that as a matter of function, but this language doesn’t even say how long they have to retain these records.”

Wood was agreeable to changing that provision to require an address instead of date of birth.

The RV park code unanimously was approved.