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Airstream trailer in Prairie Village driveway causes kerfuffle among neighbors

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The full-sized Airstream trailer permanently parked at this 67th Street home has a group of neighbors asking the City Council to re-examine city ordinances.
The full-sized Airstream trailer permanently parked at this 67th Street home has a group of neighbors asking the City Council to re-examine city ordinances.

A group of Prairie Village residents’ concerns about their neighbor’s decision to store a full-sized Airstream trailer permanently in his driveway has the city council exploring whether changes should be made to city ordinances.

Don Goldenbaum represented a group of approximately a dozen Prairie Village residents on Monday in speaking out about the matter. Goldenbaum said he and his neighbors in the area around 67th Street and Nall Avenue have had several conversations with the homeowner who has the trailer stored in his driveway.

“He’s made it clear to us that, no matter how nicely we might ask, it’s none of our business,” Goldenbaum said, noting that the man has indicated he moved to Prairie Village in large part as a result of the city’s recreational vehicle storage rules, which are more permissive than those in surrounding municipalities.

Prairie Village code allows a homeowner to store a recreational vehicle on their property as long as they aren’t in the front yard (they have to be behind the front building line), aren’t within 15 feet of any street, and aren’t within five feet of the side or rear of the property.

Goldenbaum and his neighbors contend that permanently stored recreational vehicles harm the character of the neighborhood and make the homes there less appealing, noting that “even though an Airstream may be a relatively good looking trailer, there’s nothing preventing someone from storing something beat up or run down.”

Members of the council noted that the trailer stored on 67th Street is not the only one that has generated complaints. A trailer stored on the side of a home on Tomahawk Road has prompted concern from surrounding homeowners as well.

Council directed city staff to present research on the ordinances governing recreational vehicle storage in surrounding communities as well as the precise language of the existing Prairie Village code.

About the author

Jay Senter
Jay Senter

Jay Senter is the founder and publisher of the Post.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in business at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where he worked as a reporter and editor at The Badger Herald.

He went on to receive a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Kansas, where he earned the Calder Pickett Award. While he was in graduate school, he also worked as a reporter for the Lawrence Journal-World.

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