Starting Friday, it generally will be illegal to park recreational vehicles, camper coaches, camper trailers, trailer coaches and motor homes on Longmont’s city streets.
An ordinance the City Council adopted in November that takes effect Jan. 1 will eliminate a provision in Longmont’s city code that has allowed RVs, campers and other so-called “sleeper vehicles” — including any other vehicles that have been converted to temporarily serve as living or sleeping accommodations — to be parked on streets, as long as those vehicles are moved at least 600 feet every 48 hours.
The ordinance prohibiting sleeper-vehicle parking replaces that with a ban on parking such vehicles on city streets, in alleys, in parking lots near trailheads and inside city parks and on other public rights of way.
Under Longmont’s city code, sleeper vehicles are in a section of city laws about vehicles considered “abandoned” or “junked” if they are left on public street or public property for 48 hours or longer.
Jeff Satur, Longmont’s deputy public safety chief for police services, said Monday that while the “move it” policy has been in place, many sleeper vehicle owners have simply shifted from one neighborhood to another, with those causing problems taking those problems to a different location.
“They move it and then they trash another neighborhood,” he said.
The new ordinance primarily is intended to address complaints Longmont has received from some residents and the city’s own staff about people living in such sleeper vehicles — including some vehicles not currently licensed and in various states of disrepair — depositing trash, sewage, wastewater, feces and urine, and leaking fluids onto adjacent public and private properties and onto the streets, when some of those vehicle occupants’ or owners park on streets.
Enforcement of the ordinance mainly will be on a complaint-response process, city officials and Council members have said, rather than having police or code enforcement officers patrolling Longmont just to spot violators.
If someone from the public contacts police or code enforcement to submit a complaint, an enforcement official will be sent to the vehicle’s location and will place a notice on the vehicle requiring compliance. The enforcement official will return later to see whether the sleeper vehicle has been removed from the right of way, or that a permit has been obtained.
If the sleeper vehicle is not in compliance, the police or code enforcement officer may issue a citation, and the vehicle may be towed and impounded.
Anyone receiving such a sleeper vehicle parking violation notice must remove the vehicle from the public right of way and may not move the vehicle to another location within the public right of way. If it is found elsewhere on public property, it may be subject to being towed.
The city pays the costs of towing and storing sleeper vehicles if the owners don’t reclaim them and reimburse Longmont, as well as cleaning it and preparing it for demolition by a salvage business if it goes unclaimed.
Satur said it can cost Longmont about $245 to get a vehicle towed from a location where it’s illegally parked, then another $15 a day to store it while waiting to see whether it will be reclaimed — something he says rarely happens.
He reported to Council in October that expenses for towing, storing, and prepping a vehicle for salvage can amount to a total cost of $3,000 per vehicle. Through the first five months of 2020, Longmont spent all of the 2020 allocated funds it had allocated in this year’s budget, $55,000, for towing and demolishing 17 unclaimed RV’s. Additional rollover funds of $50,000 were approved for the remainder of 2020.
The ban will not apply to people parking their RVs or campers on the street while they’re shopping or doing other business nearby.
Also, the ordinance provides an exception for people who may have temporary visitors who are traveling in RVs, in order to allow those RVs to be parked in the street in front of their host’s homes, for example.
A seven-day permit is available through the city of Longmont for a charge of $25. However, no one can get more than four permits a year for a specific vehicle. Permits may not be issued for back-to-back periods. When the permit expires, the sleeper vehicle may not be parked on the public way for the following seven days. The sleeper vehicle must have motive power or remain connected to a vehicle with motive power for the duration of the permit.
Also exempted from being ticketed and towed are RVs, campers and other sleeper vehicles being actively loaded or unloaded from a home or business. Officials said “Active loading or unloading: means the period of time in which a person or persons are physically engaged in the labor of loading or unloading from an apartment, condominium, townhouse, home or business. Contents may not be unloaded into a right of way, greenway or park.
Otherwise, after Thursday, sleeper vehicles may no longer be moved to a different location on a public street or public property. Instead, the sleeper vehicle must be removed entirely from the public street or public property.
Residents in a homeowners association should refer to their bylaws for any specific additional restrictions that may apply in that association.
Council and city staff had several discussions about the potential parking restrictions before Council adopted them in October.
City staff had written the council prior to an August study session that code enforcement and police officers said there’s been “an uptick in reports of junked, abandoned and/or publicly parked sleeper vehicles, also referred to as recreational vehicles, on city property.”
Staff wrote in August that “Code Enforcement reports a 120% increase in total RV abandonment cases from the first half of 2019 to the same time this year. Illegal dumping and similar nuisances accompany the majority of these cases.”
City spokesperson Rigo Leal said in an email last week that Longmont’s outreach staff, police and code enforcement staff have been distributing information in the community about the pending effective date of the ordinance and programs available to assist the homeless when staff encounter sleeper vehicles on city property.
Satur said Longmont officials have been encouraging the homeless, including people living in RVs, to take advantage of those services.
The staff of Boulder County’s Coordinated Entry programs for homeless assistance has been reporting increased phone calls from RV dwellers, Leal said, “more so to seek clarification or complain about the ordinance rather than seeking services and stable housing.”
He wrote, “Our efforts continue to be focused on resources for permanent stable housing, rather than free/low cost RV parking options.”
More Longmont information:
Website discussion of regulations about “sleeper,” abandoned, junked vehicles: tinyurl.com/y9sl9dqe
To file a complaint about an RV violating the parking ban:
Longmont police: A link for filing non-emergency complaints online can be found at: tinyurl.com/ycr3pkna
Longmont Code Enforcement Office: 303-651-8695
City numbers for more information about the RV parking ban:
Longmont Police Services: 303-651-8555
Longmont Code Enforcement Office: 303-651-8695
Resources for people experiencing homelessness: tinyurl.com/y7lcdc4j
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Longmont RV street parking ban takes effect Friday - Longmont Times-Call
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