BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
San Carlos City Council is eyeing increasing parking ticket fines and overnight parking restrictions to combat the increased number of RVs parked on the city’s east side.
The majority of council on Monday said it was interested in banning RVs citywide, but wanted to focus on reaching out to affected businesses and RV dwellers.
“It’s kind of a whack-a-mole, if you ban it in one place, they’re going to move to another,” Councilwoman Sara McDowell said.
McDowell said she would support any police that addresses the concerns of business owners. She was worried that if the city chose to implement a permit program, it would divert significant resources from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office. A ban would be easier to enforce instead of having a deputy go around checking for permits in an entire neighbor-hood, McDowell said.
The sheriff’s office currently marks vehicles with 72-hour stickers and issues $50 parking tickets, but hasn’t been able to remove the 15 to 20 vehicles from city streets, causing business owners to complain, according to Interim City Manager Nil Blackburn.
Permits vs ban
Vice Mayor Adam Rak said he wanted to be empathetic to the situation, but there are also health and safety issues. Rak said if there is concern about RVs moving to a different area in town, it would be best to ban them. But he also wanted to hear from businesses on having a permit program.
Councilman John Dugan said it was a vexing issue, but he didn’t like solving problems they don’t have yet. There haven’t been RV complaints in other parts of the city, he said. Dugan said he would be open to a citywide ban if RVs start parking in neighborhoods, but for now, increasing the parking ticket fine could help.
“It needs to be a big number that people are going to be like, ‘Holy cow, I can’t stay here. Maybe there’s somewhere else I should go,” Dugan said.
Councilman Neil Layton said the only way to fix the issue is to take an aggressive approach, such as banning RVs citywide.
Changing the current policies will not affect the enforcement that the sheriff’s office can carry out, he said.
Banning RVs will be a new tool for deputies and will prevent spillover, Layton said.
RVs will always move to less restrictive areas, and council is addressing how to improve San Carlos, Layton said.
Council told not to copy Mountain View
Mountain View resident Albert Johns said his City Council didn’t act strongly enough, and now they have over 400 RVs. Mountain View has a ban on RV parking on certain streets and an RV lot that can hold around 70 vehicles, costing taxpayers, Johns said, The best option would be to have a citywide ban, Johns said.
Council will discuss a future policy after city employees have reached out to the businesses.
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