Bobbo wrote:
The crux is whether the word "motor" is in the ordinance referring specifically to recreational vehicles. You have now posted the ordinance WITH the word "motor," and WITHOUT the word "motor." If the ordinance does NOT have the word "motor" referring to recreational vehicles, you are out of luck.
That probably does not matter. You can argue semantics until you turn blue in the face. The OP is in Wisconsin and I don't know a **** thing about how it is there, but here in PA anything that is required to be registered, have a license plate, and is used on a public highway is considered a "motor vehicle" for all intensive purposes.
Getting a city ordinance changed or getting some type of variance is not exactly easy. Sure you can hire an attorney and sue......good luck, better have deep pockets and have your **** together. File over wording and before it ever sees a courtroom they'll have reworded the ordinance by stroke of the pen if their solicitor see's any loophole in the wording, but since most ordinances are already reviewed in that regard prior to being advertised, good luck.
You could also run for council or whatever it's called in your neck of the woods along with a couple of other people who are on your side of the fence with the issue. If you happen to get elected and have a voting majority, you could then propose to amend the ordinance. But expect a fight from the other non RV owning NIMBY's in your town which is the vast majority, which is why the ordinance most likely exists to begin with. There is no shortage of busy body property owners everywhere who have nothing better to do than attempt to dictate how you live, and what you can do with your property.
Another option is to unload the property and move to where you do not have to deal with such overbearing BS, which is probably the best course of action and works 100% of the time. Many more areas exist in the US that you don't have to put up with such BS than where you do. I side with Sidecarflip. If you purchased a property in a jurisdiction that has HOA's or overbearing government entities, that's your mistake.
They'll usually not grant a variance in this situation because if they grant it for you it opens them up to having to grant one to the next person, and the next, so on and so forth, essentially making the ordinance worthless.