Mountain View Puts RV Parking Ordinance In Reverse

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — As a way to appease a concerned public on both sides of the street of the issue, the Mountain View City Council parked the RV homeless ordinance back in staff's hands after hearing from many during Tuesday night's mega long meeting.

Instead of proceeding with passing a safe parking ordinance that may have taken the City Council into the early Wednesday morning hours, it chose to direct staff to draft a new ordinance to phase in how long and where recreational vehicles may park in the city. Along with that, staff was instructed to assess the safety concerns of the RVs parking near driveways as well as pedestrian corridors and crossings.

Loads of the oversized vehicles that "discharge sewage" blanket city streets in particular El Camino Real and Shoreline south of the Amphitheatre Parkway — with residents who live in them full time because housing costs so much in the Silicon Valley.

Santa Clara County boasts some of the highest housing market values in the nation, with the median price of a single family home topping $1 million.

Mountain View is no stranger to the challenges. And like many communities grappling with the issue from San Jose to San Francisco, residents and their elected leaders are stuck between a rock and a hard place. The mobile homeless need a place to live. Those with homes have public safety concerns.

The new ordinance would return in the fall and would also address regulations specific with the vehicles parking around Eagle and Rengstoff parks, with the possibility of a ban during the early morning hours that may go into effect next year. By next spring, staff will also return with an update the panel on the impacts of the new ordinance to consider full adoption of an outright 24/7 ban by summer.

The council also tasked staff with outside-the-box ideas on how to expand housing options and emergency shelters for when the city declares the issue an emergency. Temporary and permanent housing supply opportunities will be evaluated.

The last time the city council took up the matter, the meeting fell on a day when San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo joined 13 other California city leaders in Sacramento to meet with California Gov. Gavin Newsom to come up with more funding in the 2019 state budget to address the homeless crisis.

See also

• S Bay Takes On Homeless; Emergency In Mtn View, SJ Lobbies State