Council Puts Curbs on RV Parking in Camarillo

People who own recreational vehicles better find somewhere else to park in Camarillo besides on their streets during daylight hours on weekdays.

The Camarillo City Council unanimously approved an ordinance late Wednesday that would restrict oversize vehicles from parking on residential streets from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, unless owners seek a temporary parking permit.

The council acted despite heavy opposition from RV owners.

The city received 35 letters on the issue, and more than 70 people attended Wednesday night’s meeting. Mayor Stanley Daily had to admonish the crowd to behave in the first few minutes of the more than two-hour public hearing because of outbursts.

Some residents denounced those who park their RVs on residential streets, saying that it lowers property values and causes safety hazards. But RV owners said they could not afford storage yards and wondered where their relatives and friends with RVs would park when visiting.

“I’m really concerned about whether I should tell my other RV friends not to come to Camarillo because they can’t park on our streets,” Robert Harper said. Tom Tate, an RV owner, said there are no storage lots in Camarillo that will accommodate RVs larger than 30 feet.

Handicapped vehicles are exempt from the restrictions, as well as people loading or unloading their vehicles. The parking permits will be issued starting Sept. 1 by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department at no charge and may be used 10 days during a 90-day period.

The restrictions are quite different from those originally proposed due to suggestions from the community, said Tom Fox, Camarillo transportation engineer.

“The intent behind having a community meeting is that the City Council wants to make sure that the community is part of the ordinance,” Fox said Thursday. “These changes occurred because of testimony offered last night.”

The original proposal, which would have banned oversized vehicles from parking on residential streets from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week, included a $10 to $15 fee for the parking permits that could only be issued for six days during a 180-day period and had no provisions for handicapped vehicles.

“What we’re trying to do is make it as workable for the largest number of people that we can,” Councilman Kevin Kildee said. “We want to make it as easy as possible so that the compliance level can be high. We thought that 10 days would be more workable for most of the people, not only the owners of the RVs, but those that have relatives or friends that may come down.”

The council decided to exempt weekends from the ordinance because there would not be a receptionist available at the Sheriff’s Department to distribute permits during those times, Kildee said, adding that there will be no charge unless the city determines that distribution of the permits is too costly for it to handle.

Like all cities, Camarillo had previously regulated RVs on public streets by enforcing the California Vehicle Code, which requires all vehicles parked for more than 72 hours in one place to be moved at least two-tenths of a mile.

Enforcement of this requirement was difficult and drained resources of the Sheriff’s Department, said Cmdr. Craig Husband, adding that the department continuously responded to the same vehicles violating the restrictions.

Some RV owners sympathized with Husband’s statement, but said the council’s reaction was too severe.

“I agree there is a problem . . . but the proposed ordinance would hinder RV owners while outfitting and getting ready and on return trips,” Tate said.

Thomas Dunaway opposed the ban, saying he needs his RV to get to and from town because he is confined to a wheelchair and a smaller vehicle would not accommodate him.

Not as many spoke in favor of the ban. They included people who said they did not like looking at their neighbor’s RVs, fretted about declining property values, or saw incidents when children were nearly hit by cars because parked RVs had blocked a driver’s vision.

An oversized vehicle failing to comply with the ordinance would be fined $35. If the vehicle is parked in excess of 72 hours, it could be towed.

An oversized vehicle is any vehicle that exceeds 25 feet in length, 80 inches in width, or 82 inches in height.