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UPDATE 11/9/2012: On Nov 9, 2012, at 8:41 PM, John Ashbaugh, John wrote:Thank you for sharing your views about the Oversized Vehicles ordinance. As you know, the Council has postponed consideration of this ordinance while additional outreach is conducted. I prefer not to comment at this time on the substance of the ordinance, particularly through email. I prefer, instead, to continue to listen to input from individuals and organizations with an interest in this issue.
I invite you to take a careful and objective look at the proposed ordinance, as well as the factual evidence that was presented to the Council this week to justify the proposal. Feel free to continue to contact the Council to express your views, and help us to improve the ordinance prior to adoption.
John B. Ashbaugh
San Luis Obispo City Council
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UPDATE 11/9/2012: Another person writes in support of my position:
************ORIGINAL ARTICLE 11/9/2012*************I'm with you Tim, I have a RV that will not fit in my driveway, so I park it in front of my house for a day or two to get it ready for the next trip. Also I have relatives with RVs that will stop for a night or two on their way to somewhere else. Stupid law that tries to micro-manage society based on someones vision that does not fit.
San Luis Obispo City Council is seeking additional public opinion on a proposed law to SEVERELY limit the parking of Motor Homes, Trailers, and Boats on SLO city streets. Clearly, I OPPOSE this proposed law on many different levels. It would be solving a problem that largely does not exist. It would continue to discriminate against homeless people living in their RVs who have nowhere else to go. It would put severe restrictions on out-of-town guests passing through in their RVs who want to stop by in SLO and visit their friends and family. It would put unreasonable restrictions on people like me who own a boat and park it on the street overnight attached to my truck (the tow vehicle). It would impact numerous small-scale business people, like construction contractors and gardeners, who use utility trailers in their work, and often park them on the street overnight (such as at a job site).
You can read the details of this proposed law in the SLO's Tribune Newspaper: City Council: SLO's parking law put in idle.
EXAMPLE 1: This law would no longer allow me to do the following with my truck, boat and trailer: retrieve my boat from storage outside of my neighborhood (I store it at Weipert's in SLO and pay $50 a month for the privilege), park it in front of my house for a day or 2 before using it to get the boat ready for use (charge batteries, wash deck, load gear, etc.), then take the boat out fishing or diving for the day, return the boat to my house to wash it and make any repairs to it from the day's use, then take it back to storage the next day. For this, I will be cited and fined by the city under this ordinance.
NO, I cannot park it in my driveway, because the boat does not fit without blocking the sidewalk - no doubt another city violation (as it should be). NO, I cannot get it the same day that I use it: I leave at 4am to tow it down to Santa Barbara to take it out to the Channel Islands to fish and dive. Just parking it in front of my house before I leave at 4am would be a violation, according to this Tribune report.
EXAMPLE 2: My Aunt and Uncle are full time RVers, and just finished a May - September Camp Host gig at a campground in the Sierras. After all that, they want to stop by and visit their favorite nephew for a few days, or maybe a week or two. No, their 5th wheel does not fit in my driveway either. What are their parking choices for their rig? Rent a storage space for a week? NO, nobody rents by the week - only by the month, with a large key deposit and a minimum of multple months, plus many storage facilities are FULL with no space available. Park it outside the city limits? MAYBE, but doesn't this just push the problem to city of SLO neighbors in the county areas surrounding SLO?
EXAMPLE 3: A few years back, we got a city permit and added a balcony and deck off the back of our house. We used a local contractor, who did fine work for us. In order to facilitate his efficient construction work, he tows a 15 foot trailer behind his construction truck. This trailer is filled with construction materials and tools, and provides secure storage for his necessary work materials. NO, he can't park his trailer in my driveway, because I use my driveway to park in my garage. The contractor often leaves the trailer parked in front of my house during the construction period, so that his employees can access the trailer and tools at the job site, particularly when the business owner is at a different job (or out doing estimates for future jobs). Under this law, he cannot leave his detached trailer in front of my house. Nor can he take it to his home to park on the street in front of his house. He must bring it to a paid storage facility EVERY DAY, and pay his employees to retrieve it EVERY DAY. Who pays for this? Me, because the time it takes to storage and retrieve, and attach and detach the trailer, should (rightfully) be charged to me, his customer. This makes him more expensive and inefficient. Maybe he decides he will only take jobs in 5 cities because they do not have the restrictive trailer parking situation.
This is all the time I have to devote to deterring this undesirable law that our new SLO City Council is hoisting upon us. For the record, SLO City Councilman Dan Carpenter says that there is NOT a growing problem in this area, and is concerned about enforcement issues. Go Dan!
The city lists the supposed PROBLEMS that this law fixes, and I will address that later (if I have time). Suffice it to say that the problems that the city claims this law fixes are not real problems, in my opinion.
