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While RVs are not allowed to park overnight in most residential areas of Palo Alto, the city is gearing up to address a potential loophole for streets that fall outside of residential zoning.
The expanded ordinance, which the Palo Alto City Council will consider on Oct. 19, would prohibit overnight RV parking on streets within 100 feet of any residential use, which includes planned home zoning (PHZ) areas and mixed-use developments. And while the restrictions previously ran from 2 to 6 a.m., the ordinance will expand the hours from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., which staff said is to help facilitate enforcement.
Staff did not provide information as to how many streets fall under the expanded restrictions, but described the ordinance as tackling a “limited number of residential properties.”
The language comes from a council direction to staff in August, when the city approved a permit parking pilot program for RVs on sections of Embarcadero Road and Coyote Hill Road. Part of that discussion was the idea of an “alternative sides” parking restriction, in which RVs would be limited to specific streets and only allowed to park on one side of the road for six months at a time before switching to the other side.
The “alternative sides” proposal was the subject of fierce backlash from residents and business owners, causing the council to table the idea and stick with the pilot parking permit program only.
Councilmember Ed Lauing, who sits on Palo Alto’s oversized vehicle ad hoc committee, raised the idea of a citywide ban at that Aug. 24 meeting.
“So it’s (oversized vehicles) in a parking permit, or else there’s no parking,” Lauing said. “That puts a cap at the top and keeps the spillage from happening.”
While the expanded overnight residential parking ban is a step closer to Lauing’s direction, RVs are still able to park in business and industrial areas of Palo Alto — and the vast majority of people living in RVs already do so.
Some of Lauing’s colleagues seem amenable to a “phased ban” approach, where the city would continue to increase restrictions until the parking pilot begins. Mayor Vicki Veenker suggested that this idea would reduce the number of oversized vehicles on the streets and leave just those who are needy enough and willing to participate in the pilot.
“I think of it as a three-part plan, which is none in residential, none as second homes and then I think we’re likely to have enough space (in the permit pilot), especially if we can get some more lots,” Mayor Vicki Veenker said in an interview last month.
The next big restriction may target the people who live in RVs but have another home, as Veenker alluded to. RV residents who have previously spoken to this publication say this living style helps them stay closer to work to save on commuting; others say it gives them more flexibility to live nomadically and travel, while still retaining a permanent home outside of Palo Alto.
It remains unclear how many of the approximately 150 RVs on city streets are being used as second homes, but the council appears unanimous on cracking down on them.
Councilmember Julie Lythcott-Haims, who also sits on the oversized vehicle committee, has staked out a more sympathetic position to people who live in RVs and advocates for stronger social services before additional restrictions. Yet even they agree that those who use a vehicle as a second home should not be allowed to populate city streets.
“In my view, the city’s obligation is to those who are truly unhoused,” Councilmember Julie Lythcott-Haims told this publication last month. “We do not have a similar obligation to those who have other other places to live, but are choosing to stay in a vehicle on our streets.”
In addition to the expanded overnight restrictions, the city plans to spend about $140,000 on new signage — not on every residential street, but at approximately 50 entrances to the city. Staff wrote in a report to council that this approach better manages fiscal and staff impacts.
The ordinance and associated signage is expected to be approved quickly at the council’s Oct. 19 meeting because it’s on the consent calendar, where multiple items are voted on at once without discussion of each one.
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