Troy's Safety and Health Committee Recommends Two Ordinances to Council

Vol. IV. No. 66 - City Responds to Concerns of Those Living In Vehicles

This past Monday, Troy City Council’s Safety and Health Committee quietly recommended two ordinances to the full council — one about dog rabies vaccinations, and one about people living in vehicles on public streets.

The first item was straightforward clean‑up: aligning the city’s rabies vaccination rules for dogs with modern veterinarian practice. When Troy first adopted its ordinance, rabies vaccines for dogs were only valid for one year; today, many vaccines are good for up to three years, and the local law is finally catching up. The proposed change would require owners to keep their animals “current” on rabies shots, rather than mandating an annual booster no longer supported by standard practice.

Committee members also heard that the current requirement to keep a vaccination tag clipped to the animal’s collar has proven hard to enforce. In practice, tags get lost, collars come off, and the police department ends up relying more on vet records than on what a dog is wearing when they encounter it. The revision is designed to make enforcement more realistic without changing the underlying expectation that dogs in Troy be properly vaccinated.

A brief exchange about strays underscored how fragmented animal control can be. Council members asked whether Troy police will physically take stray dogs to the shelter when residents call. City staff suggested officers are usually first on scene but tend to coordinate with County Animal Control officers rather than transporting animals themselves, citing potential liability concerns.

The second item, and the one that drew more discussion, was a proposal to prohibit “living and/or residing” in vehicles parked on the public right‑of‑way, with an emergency clause so the new rules can take effect immediately once council approves the ordinance and the Mayor signs the new regulation.

The city already has a 72‑hour parking rule on public streets and a separate zoning provision that limits how long recreational vehicles can sit in residential districts and requires that they remain unoccupied and disconnected from utilities. The police chief and law director are now trying to close the gap between parking enforcement and the reality that, in some cases, vehicles are being used as housing.

Staff noted that Troy is not actively patrolling for people living in cars or campers; instead, these situations surface when neighbors complain, often in residential subdivisions. When that happens, officers say they offer referrals and, in some cases, rides to local resources: nonprofit advocates, temporary housing options, and agencies human service agencies. Committee members emphasized that when individuals refuse help, it is usually not because resources are unavailable, but because they are unwilling or unable to accept them.

The ordinance is being pitched as a way to give police clearer authority in the rare cases where voluntary moves and referrals fail. Members pointed to legitimate concerns: refuse and litter and the cumulative impact on nearby homes and businesses when a vehicle is used as a long‑term dwelling in front of someone else’s property. One council member referenced a recurring situation in the Westbrook neighborhood, near a school, where a particular individual has returned multiple times, highlighting how cyclical these encounters can be.

At the same time, the committee acknowledged the gray areas this new authority will touch. Councilman Jeff Schilling raised a common scenario: an RV parked on the street for a few days while friends or family visit, with an extension cord run from the house to supply electricity. Troy’s zoning code already restricts how long RVs can be stored or parked in residential areas and requires that they remain unoccupied and disconnected from water, sewer, and power. The law director has been asked to make sure the new “human habitation” language does not conflict with those existing rules, but there was no clear answer on how enforcement will distinguish between a weekend visit and an improvised home for someone with nowhere else to go.

For residents, several practical questions remain. How will “living and/or residing” be defined in a way that is transparent and consistent? Will the city publish guidance that helps residents understand when a vehicle parked on their street crosses the line from parking violation to housing violation? And how will the emergency clause be justified to the public, given that the situations described are one-offs rather than a sudden new threat?

As with many of Troy’s recommended code changes, the details will matter more than the talking points. The committee has recommended that council proceed — with emergency language — and the full ordinance is expected to appear for first reading at the next council meeting. Residents who care about neighborhood quality‑of‑life and about how the city responds to visible poverty will want to read that language closely once it is available, and ask whether Troy is striking the right balance between compassion, clarity, and control.

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