RV Ban: Second Reading of "Oversized Vehicle" Ordinance at Santa Cruz City Council

On Tuesday, November 9, the Santa Cruz City Council will conduct its second reading of an ordinance that bans RVs and other oversized vehicles from parking overnight on city streets between the hours of midnight and 5:00 AM.

If finalized by council, the ordinance will establish an overnight parking permit program for "oversized vehicles" available to “residents” with a “current address.” The terms in the draft ordinance have been narrowly defined (to exclude houseless residents) as follows:

“Current Address” shall mean the street name and postal address number, along with the city, state, and zip code, of the primary physical residence where an individual resides. If the individual has more than one address, it shall be the location where they are registered to vote. If they are not registered to vote, it shall be the location where they spend the most time during the year.

“Resident” shall mean a person who customarily resides and maintains a place of abode with a street address number in the City of Santa Cruz or who owns land within the City of Santa Cruz with a street address number. It shall not mean a person who maintains an address at a post office box, mailbox drop, or who rents a room without it being the primary place of abode.

“Oversized vehicle” shall mean any motorized vehicle (as defined of Section 670 of the Vehicle Code) or combination of motorized vehicles and/or non-motorized vehicles or trailers that: (1) meets or exceeds twenty feet in length at any time, or (2) both of the two following criteria, exclusive of fixtures, accessories, or property: eight feet in height and seven feet in width. (a) (b) To determine the height, width or length of the vehicles defined in this section, any extension to the vehicle caused by mirrors, air conditioners, or similar attachments as allowed by Section 35109, 35110 or 35111 of the Vehicle Code as may be amended shall not be included. Oversized vehicle does not include pickup trucks, vans, or sport utility vehicles that are less than twenty feet in length and eight feet in height.

Additionally, "unattached trailers" would be prohibited from being parked on "any city street or alley at any time, unless in the process of actively being loaded or unloaded."

Most violations of the RV ban would be punished as an infraction, however there are some exceptions. One subdivision of the proposed ordinance, Section 10.40.120(d), would punish some nuisance behaviors associated with RVs as a misdemeanor:

"No person, who owns or maintains an oversized vehicle, shall permit the area surrounding the oversized vehicle to be maintained in an unsafe, untidy, and/or unsanitary/unhygienic fashion. Surrounding areas must be kept free from litter, debris, waste, discarded food products, discarded hypodermic needles, discarded property, improperly disposed gray or black water, unleashed animals, and garbage. A violation of this subdivision shall be a misdemeanor, and may subject the vehicle to towing pursuant to Vehicle Code section 22651(h)(1)."

The RV ban has been proposed by Vice Mayor Sonja Brunner, and Councilmembers Renee Golder and Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson. In August of 2016 the California Coastal Commission struck down a previous attempt by the Santa Cruz City Council to ban recreational vehicles from parking overnight in the city because the ban impeded coastal access. So far in 2021, the ACLU of Northern California has filed lawsuits against two Bay Area cities' new 24 hour RV parking bans: Pacifica and Mountain View.


Email the Santa Cruz City Council to oppose the RV ban:
citycouncil [at] cityofsantacruz.com