Anyone have problems parking their class B in their Driveway

[trukeeper]

Has anyone encountered problems with city ordinances when parking their Sprinter-based RV's in their driveways for extended periods of time? I know some Homes Associations will prohibit RV's from long term driveway parking, but never heard of any city ordinances that would prohibit it. My understanding is that Sprinter-based RV's are generally considered "passenger vans" and are treated as "standard Passenger vehicles" and treated no differently than any other car, SUV, or other van. Has anyone else had any experience dealing with their local jurisdictions regarding issues with parking of a Sprinter (or any other Class B) in their driveways?

[Heapie]

Hi Folks,

I live in Hingham, MA and there are a few Roadtreks in town. No problem at all parking in our yards.

My wife and I are thinking of moving to a Del Webb over 55 in Plymouth. Problem is that you have to park your car in the garage every night. The RV won't fit.

Heapie

[drsolo]

mlts22 wrote:
I just don't get why people don't live and let live. These two-bit tattle-tales destroy any semblance of community in a neighborhood.

Greed and self importance. They place appearance over substance. Now that being said I am more than happy to pitch in and clean up elderly neighbors property, cut their lawn, trim their bushes, even haul junk to the recycling center. But in the city there are limits to letting rusted out hulks and trash accumulate before it begins to affect the quality of the neighborhood. In the burbs that is another story if people keep the stuff in their back yards and behind fences or hedges. There is one snooty neighborhood out in the burbs that banned above ground pools in people's backyards. Talk about control freaks.

[mlts22]

I've never cared what neighbors park in their driveway. One neighbor that was in the same house for 40+ years used to have a 30+ year old motorhome with bumper stickers from hundreds of different places on the back. Was never an issue until about five years ago when the newcomers to Austin got the ear of the council to start banning motorhomes (9000+ pound weight is banned outright from street parking, smaller MHs are allowed 72 hours on the streets.) Said neighbor spent a good amount of money putting up a fence, a pair of gates, and a second driveway just so the MH could be placed in his backyard.

I just don't get why people don't live and let live. These two-bit tattle-tales destroy any semblance of community in a neighborhood.

[SkiMore]

Supercharged wrote:
Your neighors work hard and long to buy in a nice area, landscape, plant trees, mow the grass, paint there house the color that looks nice in the area. Then along come someone with a bright colored RV that won't hardly fit on the drive way, none of the colors on it look well with anything up and down the street. They use it a few times a year, and want everyone else to look at it the rest of the year. Move the thing out of site. Hello

These type of regulations get tricky. What if the RV wasn't brightly painted? What if it matched your pretty house? What if one neighbor decided to paint their house a color you thought was ugly or had a 30 year old rusty pink Cadillac (fully licensed, insured and registered) in front of their house? Would you want the city to tell them to repaint their house or replace the fully legal car?

One of my neighbors has a small class C on their driveway. It hardly ever moves. I have no idea if it is legal or anyone says anything to them. It's been there for years. I guess I'd rather not see it, but I don't think it is any of my business.

[Supercharged]

charles wrote:
Supercharged must have had some issues as a child. Where I live the city allows it the HOA does not but they allow me to bring it home for a few days at a time. However mine is not one of those 30 footer's that the man with vast knowledge of Class B's is talking about. I had a problem keeping it in a driveway in the Villages Florida several years ago and it was the only vehicle we had for the winter down there, so I called the sherif's department as the streets are county owned and maintained and they allowed me to park on the street as long as it did not interfere with safety vehicles and did not block vision at the stop sign. I think it looked better in the driveway and after a few days so did the neighbors. A little off topic but In my opinion any motorcycle that is not a Harley should be kept in a storage building somewhere.

Nick
I hope it all works out for you.

Your lucky,

[garmp]

That's why we opted for a Sportsmobile. Virtually stealth. HOA just smiles and says "Hmmm!" Into our second year and nary a rumble from neighbors or anyone. Also is used as our second vehicle, so it doesn't just sit until camping time.

[spacedoutbob]

Boy, I am happy we don't have rules like that. I would never live anywhere that people have an issue with having a RV in the driveway.

Bob

[stan909]

I seem to recall Mussolini not allowing rv parking at peoples homes. Just kidding of course.

[trukeeper]

Canadian John.. thanks for the tip!! I went to the Good Sam member site and found the "Parking Rights Council" http://www.goodsamclub.com/parkingrights/ This is certainly worth a shot. I already sent them an email about my issues and hopefully then can give me a little guidance and/or tips on how to work all this out. Thanks Again!!!

[charles]

Supercharged must have had some issues as a child. Where I live the city allows it the HOA does not but they allow me to bring it home for a few days at a time. However mine is not one of those 30 footer's that the man with vast knowledge of Class B's is talking about. I had a problem keeping it in a driveway in the Villages Florida several years ago and it was the only vehicle we had for the winter down there, so I called the sherif's department as the streets are county owned and maintained and they allowed me to park on the street as long as it did not interfere with safety vehicles and did not block vision at the stop sign. I think it looked better in the driveway and after a few days so did the neighbors. A little off topic but In my opinion any motorcycle that is not a Harley should be kept in a storage building somewhere.

Nick
I hope it all works out for you.

[omjones]

I think the Good Sam Club has an ongoing political arm that represents owners in this dispute and has been successful in the past. The last contact I heard was Sue Bray, she may have information you can use.
john 'I am Canadian'

[Sailordive]

Keep us updated. I am also glad I live in the country and can park my tractor, hose trailer, truck 2 cars and my Sportsmobile wherever I desire. Supercharged must live in and work where the driveway is meant to access the 15 car garage where you hide all of your belongings.

[cacherjoe]

There is one community where I use to live here in Canada that wouldn't allow it. They would come by, take a picture and send you or the home owner a fine. As a point of interest also not allowed under the city by laws are trailers of any kind, and business vehicle (half ton with a business decal is not allowed). All of these will see the home owner fined and/or the vehicle towed from the property.

I think it's crazy in most respects.

[Arizona_Kid]

trukeeper wrote:
Interesting replies so far. Some more detail... I contacted my HOA before I even purchased my Sprinter Van and got their approval to park it in my driveway. My immediate neighbors have all been complimentary regarding how pretty the Van looks in the driveway (I keep it very clean). Unfortunately, it appears not ALL the neighbors like it, since someone complained to the city. (The city inspector could only tell me it was an "anonymous caller"). I have a real good idea who it was, but that is a completely different matter. Some of the comments above are critical of me wanting to park this in my driveway. The reason we purchased a Sprinter based "touring coach" was to serve as both one of our "daily driver" cars as well as a nice vehicle to travel in. To store this thing off-site for some reason totally negates our intended usage. If I just wanted an RV, I could have purchased a good sized class A for considerably less money than I spent on this thing. In the end, this whole matter seems to hinge on what my vehicle is; if it is considered a Van, then it is ok to park in my driveway, if it is considered an RV, then I cannot. I have read my State Statutes and it defines an RV as a "unit built on a chassis intended primarily to serve as living quarters...." I have tried to explain to the city inspector that my Sprinter is a factory-built VAN... NOT an RV shell built upon a truck chassis. I have had no luck so far, in the end, I think the inspector has simply decided that anything as big as my van MUST be an RV regardless of the technicalities of it... i.e. my vehicle is simply failing his "sniff test". Still holding out some hope, but it's not looking good right now. The inspector said I could park on the side of my home, but there does not appear to be enough room for that... I can't extend/expand my garage because it would violate local building codes to do so... I am starting run out of options. I guess one option is just accept a violation every so often and consider the fine as storage expense? Has anyone hired a lawyer to successfully win a situation like this?

.

If it's got a stove, toilet, and a bed it's an RV. All "true" Class B's are RV's, doesn't matter if it's registered as a van. I think it's going to be tough to win this one no matter how nice it looks. Unfortunately, it only takes one person to complain to ruin your whole day. Size of an RV isn't usually a determining factor where RV restrictions are involved.
City ordinances, and HOA's are the reason I live in the county.
Good luck, and keep us updated.

Supercharged doesn't live in your neighborhood does he? :E

[Supercharged]

NoVa RT wrote:
I'm going to have to disagree with Supercharged's suggestion that Class B RVs tend to be "brightly colored" and/ or "won't hardly fit" in a driveway. Mostly not the case, IMHO, and a Class B shouldn't be any more aesthetically displeasing to the neighbors than the average automobile, and much better than the clunkers that may be present. Now the rig pictured in the photo on SC's profile might be another story, but that's nothing like the vast majority of Class Bs.

Where I live I don't want to look out in the morning and see someone to cheap to find a rv park, parking in a old friends drive way for a week. I see the B are two ft taller, awing, air on top, tire on the back.Some are 19 ft. some are 30ft. It looks nice, but use it for camping or put it inside or out back. I did't park my Bentley in front of my house so I would not think of parking something that looks like some one who might be selling ice cream out of it up and down the street later in the day. Most people who have them are trying to RV and see and save the world, less fuel, park at night a W-Mart or behind a old close gas station. To cheap to do what is right for the other home owners up and down the street.