RV Parking alert Los Angeles County

If a law has been on the books for more than a decade, and has been, in the words of the letter's author "Little enforced"... It might be wise to challenge it in court.

There have been several cases in assorted states where a law from 20-50-90 years ago was suddenly enforced for the first time in living memory and the judge basically tossed it. Saying "All or nothing".

Another trick is to do a drive by on the comissioner's residences and see how many violations you can photograph (FROM THE STREET or Sidewalk)

True story: One city granted a Temporary waiver allowing an antenna tower to be built (You can not grant a TEMPORARY waiver for a building.. For it's construction yes, but once built it's built, you can not refuse to renew the waiver after it's built)

Seems the tower was too tall, city had an ordiance "Nothing more than xx feet tall"

The attorney for the owner of the tower did a drive by with sextant on every house belonging to the city comission and guess what. EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM was in violation of the ordiance. Judge sided with the owner of the tower. NOTE: This was in Michigan and thus NOT of any precidence in CA but... Who knows.. I do have the address of the lawyer, or rather the ability to find it (Have actually visited his office.. as a messenger)

Cool! I can add Major Gaffe to my other sobriquets such as Major Payne-Diaz!

SCVJeff wrote:
Care to post the exact law?

RE-read the OPs post.

"Supposed to be effective in unincorporated areas of the county".

Covina (CA - in LA county) is a city - (*not* unincorporated).
And - not to be confused with the city of West Covina.
Parking ordinances in cities are municipal code.

What does - "effective" mean?

But - not uncommon to limit street and driveway parking.
City I live in -inOrange County- has a similar ordinance.
No big deal.

Also - *any* law on the books that can be found to curtail the "homeless" RVers is being seriously looked at.
(Reference the CA problems in Venice-LA City, San Diego, etc.)

Be nice if the OP at least gave the date of the article for reference by "the sky is falling" folks..:S

~

On edit - the *major* faux pas by Gonzo42 is noted.
Along with ......
Gads Gonzo42 - you posted about a LETTER to the EDITOR!!

Major gaffe - Make a great new ID now for ya!!..:R

~

I went back to the newspaper and what I was referencing was a letter to the newspaper, not an article, so I apologize for the mistake.

So here is the full letter which I copy from the paper:

The War on Driveway RVs
Due to a little known 1991 zoning ordinance, residents of unicorporated areas of Los Angeles county can't park travel trailers or motorhomes in their driveways between a structure (including a garage) and the street. With no warning, residents in the Covina area have recently been served with a "Notice of Violation" and are given 30 days to comply or face hefty fines and possible jail time.

The county does not have adequate RV storage lots to store the many RVs currently parked in driveways. The sudden increase in enforcement of a 23-year-old ordinance is making it especially difficult for those on fixed incomes who cannot afford $120 to $200 per month for storage and a possible increase in their insurance rates.

Having less disposable income is a great incentive to purchase taxable goods and fuel in counties where sales taxes are lower and storage lots more available.

(Signed by) Rich and Marilyn Kirkpatrick, Covina

Geocritter wrote:

2012Coleman wrote:
Well then contact the paper or reporter and ask for the source. Pretty sloppy reporting IMO.

That's pretty much the kind of reporting you get these days, either sloppy or biased.

Newspapers are losing subscribers fast enough as it is. If articles were filled with chapter and verse of the laws and ordinances being enforced I am sure readership would fall even faster. I don't think having "City ordinance, 4321, section 1234, paragraph 4, subsection 8A thru 8F" would make the article any more readable.

Aren't you guys glad you have a reference librarian online to help you?

Here's a brochure from LA County Zone Enforcement dept. See page 2.

"Parking of Vehicles in Yards
Vehicles cannot be parked in the required front yard and portions of the side yard setback areas. Commercial vehicles cannot be parked or stored anywhere on residential or agricultural properties. Only passenger vehicles and pickup trucks can be parked and stored on driveways. The following are not permitted to be parked on driveways:
Boats, commercial vehicles, motor homes, recreational vehicles, travel trailers, and utility trailers"

link to full brochure

2012Coleman wrote:
Well then contact the paper or reporter and ask for the source. Pretty sloppy reporting IMO.

That's pretty much the kind of reporting you get these days, either sloppy or biased.

Well then contact the paper or reporter and ask for the source. Pretty sloppy reporting IMO.

It wasn't quoted in the article, unfortunately. I would have if I could.

Care to post the exact law?