By Helen Gao
San Diego Union Tribune
Jan 27, 2008
SAN DIEGO – Parking restrictions targeting recreational vehicles, trailers and campers may be coming to a San Diego neigh-borhood near you.
Three City Council members have proposed a pilot program prohibiting overnight parking of these vehicles on public streets in certain neighborhoods.
Residents and their guests in affected areas would have to obtain parking permits good for up to 72 hours. Even with a permit, they would have to park within 150 feet of their address.
The regulations, which would expire at the end of 2009, would apply generally to coastal neighborhoods west of Interstate 5, where residents long have complained about RVs cluttering their streets for weeks and months at a time. The restrictions also would extend east of I-5 and west of Tecolote Canyon Natural Park in the Bay Park/Clairemont area.
La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, Point Loma and Ocean Beach are among the communities affected.
Council President Scott Peters and council members Donna Frye and Kevin Faulconer are pushing for the tighter regulations at Tuesday's City Council meeting. If the proposal has enough support, city staff will be asked to determine the permit fees and the cost of parking enforcement. Then the issue will come back for a vote.
Under the proposal, recreational vehicles could not be parked on city streets or in parks between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. They could not be parked within 50 feet of any intersection at any time. Violators could be fined $100. Recreational vehicles are defined to include boats, dune buggies, all-terrain vehicles and other vehicles used primarily for recreation.
Also included in the parking proposal are nonrecreational vehicles more than 22 feet long and 7 feet tall.
Government and public utility vehicles, school buses and buses transporting youths or disabled people would be exempt.
Peters, whose district includes La Jolla, said his office gets frequent complaints about RVs and boat trailers taking up parking spaces, causing traffic hazards and fueling neighborhood squabbles.
People “can't see around the big vehicles. When you are pulling out of your driveway, it can be kind of a hazard,” Peters said. “People are getting into fights over it. One neighbor would put his boat in front of another's.”
Poor people who live in motor homes say that if the regulations are adopted, they would have nowhere to go. Some say they would be forced to leave the city in search of legal parking.
An 82-year-old man who calls himself Rainbow said he has to park his 30-foot RV on the street because he can't afford the fees that mobile home parks and campgrounds charge. He lives on $800 in monthly disability payments.
The monthly rates at Campland on the Bay range from $750 to $1,195 in winter. Mission Bay RV Resort charges $825 to $1,365 per month. Summer rates are even higher.
“If I could afford rent, I would be in a house,” said Rainbow, who parks in Mission Bay Park during the day and on the street at night.
City regulations allow all vehicles to be parked on city streets for up to 72 hours. After that, owners must move their vehicles at least one-tenth of a mile to avoid a citation.
Living in vehicles is prohibited in San Diego. Enforcement is spotty, in part because police are overwhelmed by the number of complaints. There are often long delays between when complaints are made and when officers respond.
Police received more than 32,000 calls last year about violations of the 72-hour rule, said San Diego police Capt. Bill Edwards of the Traffic Division. Most were from residents upset about recreational vehicles and boats on trailers, Edwards said.
