Recreational vehicle rules that are acknowledged by City of Hollister staff to be “difficult for the public to locate and understand” are being re-evaluated with an eye toward removing confusion.
Municipal code sections restricting the parking of recreational vehicles within city limits are 33 years old, according to a report that Code Enforcement Director Mike Chambless presented to the city council this week. Five years ago, the council directed code enforcement staff to stop enforcing the parking section of the codes, while still enforcing the prohibition against occupying trailers within the city.
But Chambless contended that regulations that define what a trailer is – ranging from a camp car to a commercial coach to a travel trailer – are too broad and should be clarified.
“This broad definition of the word ‘trailer,’ which includes ‘motorhome,’ ‘fifth wheel,’ and ‘recreational vehicle,’ is extremely difficult for the public to understand,” he said, noting that staff members have had to direct the public to this definition in about 80 percent of the cases that typically involved complaints of trailers stored too long in residential areas.
A regulation that spells out the prohibitions of trailer storage was effective in preventing the storage of trailers on public and private property in public view, Chambless reported, but those rules, too, “create confusion in a few areas.”
When the rules were written three decades ago, the majority of residential units were constructed on large lots with rear access, where trailers and RVs could be stored.
“Currently, the trend is to create smaller parcels with no rear access,” Chambless said. “The current code requires the trailer to be stored behind the residential unit out of public view or in an enclosed garage. This is impossible in the majority of neighborhoods.”
Chambless also would like to re-work the section of the ordinance that permits the storage of a trailer in the driveway of a residential unit “for a period not in excess of seven days.”
“Unfortunately,” he noted, “the code does not specify how often that ‘seven days’ is to be applied – seven days a week, month or year – or whether the seven days is consecutive or not.”
Code enforcement now plans to review the regulation of recreational vehicle parking on public property with the intention of modifying those rules by council action. It also plans to work with the planning commission to review rules governing the parking of RVs on private property and update those codes as necessary.
