RV Owners Fail to Curb Parking Ordinance

The Redondo Beach City Council on Tuesday moved one step closer to restricting RV parking on city streets overnight.

After listening to heartfelt pleas from residents on both sides of the issue, council members modified a proposed ordinance on oversize vehicle parking and sent it back to city officials for further review. The ordinance is expected to go before the council for a final vote Oct. 5.

Its eventual passage seems all but certain, as Councilman Steven Diels suggested in his concluding remarks on the matter.

"If you own an oversized vehicle in Redondo, the bottom line is you're going to have to get storage," he said.

Mayor Mike Gin and council members expressed sympathy for responsible RV owners, but said they get too many complaints to leave parking unrestricted.

 "The problem is, you guys that come down here, you're the good guys," Councilman Steve Aspel said after residents expressed their concerns about the proposed law. "You don't know how many people hate your guts because you're RV owners."

The ordinance would prohibit overnight parking by non-residents, and restrict the amount of time residents could do the same. It would allow residents to keep oversize vehicles—typically RVs—for overnight stays on weekends, plus six more weekdays a month on a permit basis. Non-residents visiting residents would also be allowed to park RVs or campers overnight on city streets for a limited period with a permit. 

For purposes of this ordinance, the city would be defining an overnight stay as 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. City officials said they studied other municipalities' ordinances before crafting their restrictions, which would allow for emergencies such as earthquakes.

Residents with oversized vehicles requested modification on several fronts—more leeway about Monday morning parking, for example—and got it. But council members also further restricted their definition of oversized vehicles.

The ordinance that police Chief Joe Leonardi presented to the City Council defined an oversized vehicle as one that met two of three qualifications: measuring more than 8 feet high, 7 feet wide or 22 feet long. After hearing complaints about vehicles exceeding 22 feet in length, the council ruled that any vehicle of that size would be in violation of the ordinance.

The council members doubled the amount of distance such vehicles could be parked from a home to 400 feet, and reassured residents that they could apply for a permit on the fly, either online or by calling a phone number. The ordinance would also make allowances for disabled residents, although they may not be enough for Gloria Talbot, who protested the restrictions as discrimination.

"Basically, I see this as rich versus poor," she told the City Council.

According to City Manager Bill Workman, disabled residents could claim exemption if their oversized vehicle was their sole method of transportation, but Talbot said she also drove a car.

Other residents indicated that they would not be able to afford to pay storage fees to keep their vehicle off the streets. RV owners asked the city to designate streets where they could park their vehicles, but officials said residents or schools have complained about every possibility they have considered. 

Extended oversize vehicle parking along the Edison right of way,  for example, has drawn many complaints about public safety. Schools don't want them parked nearby for long periods of time either. 

"They're using city streets for storage," Councilman Matt Kilroy said of the oversize vehicle owners who wear out their welcome. "Unfortunately, that's what people are doing."

"That's our dilemma," Aspel said. "We have so many jerks that own motor homes in our city, it's not funny. "