SANTA CRUZ — An advocacy group has announced it will seek state regulators’ support in opposing a city law banning most overnight recreation vehicle street parking.
Santa Cruz Cares organizers submitted an appeal of the city’s Oversized Vehicle Ordinance coastal permit to the California Coastal Commission, just weeks after the Santa Cruz City Council reaffirmed its backing for the law. The appeal asserts that the city law is unfairly designed to criminalize homelessness.
Originally approved by the council Nov. 9, the law’s implementation stalled while opponents appealed its coastal and design permit approvals to the city Planning Commission. The commission voted in March to approve the permits after modifying several points of the proposed ordinance. The commission’s decision was challenged and its changes struck down in a 5-2 City Council vote at its April 12 meeting, after Councilmember Renée Golder called up the item for review.
The ordinance, as written, prohibits publically parking “oversized” vehicles from midnight to 5 a.m. where the vehicles are 20 feet or longer, 8 feet or taller or 7 feet or wider. Exceptions to the law are carved out for hotel guests, short-term “emergency parking” for disabled vehicles and for vehicle owners associated with residential addresses who have obtained a limited number of guest permits from the city, first.
The ordinance was passed along with council direction to delay enforcing the law until officials could create a safe-parking program for unhoused city residents living in oversized vehicles that are licensed and registered in the city.
The Santa Cruz Cares’ lead appellant is Reggi Meisler, supported by Chris Lang, Stacey Falls, Micah Posner, Rachael Chavez, Alicia Kuhl, Joy Schendledecker, Marisol Goulett and Lira Filippini.
This week’s appeal is not the first time a city law limiting on-street parking of large vehicles has been challenged for its legality. The Santa Cruz City Council in 2015 had approved a previous iteration of the recreational vehicle ban. During an August 2016 Coastal Commission hearing, members with homelessness advocate Robert Norse on his argument that the parking ban targeted homeless people and restricted coastal access.
Commissioners at the time called for the city to provide more complete plans for alternative parking options, a request the city never followed through on. The law was effectively nullified until it was updated and reintroduced last year.
