LA County expands parking restrictions for RVs and large vehicles in unincorporated communities

Los Angeles County is expanding parking restrictions for RVs and other large vehicles in more than a dozen unincorporated communities, including East L.A., Rancho Dominguez and Hawthorne.

The county Board of Supervisors approved an ordinance Tuesday that bans parking "nonconforming vehicles” on any highway, street, alley or public place without a permit in specific unincorporated areas.

Supervisor Holly Mitchell, who represents Florence-Firestone and Lennox in the second district, has said residents repeatedly raised concerns about safety challenges caused by oversized vehicles parked in public right of ways for years.

“Oversized vehicles, colleagues, whether box trucks, semi-trucks, recreational vehicles, create blind spots in our streets, which is a safety issue for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers in all of our unincorporated communities,” Mitchell said last week. “They also take up street parking in our communities, sometimes create noise while idling and unfortunately can attract illegal dumping.”

Mitchell said L.A. County’s unincorporated communities have seen an uptick in the number of oversized vehicles after neighboring cities passed and started enforcing their own parking restrictions.

But some residents, including members of the Venice Justice Committee, argued that officials were prioritizing enforcement over meaningful solutions for people living in vehicles.

“Vehicles are used as a safer form of street shelter by many low-wage workers, seniors or disabled renters who have simply been priced out,” wrote Peggy Lee Kennedy, the committee's co-founder.

About the ordinance

Tuesday was the second reading of the proposed ordinance, which is expected to go into effect next month. The first reading happened a week earlier, and the board voted unanimously to approve it both times. Supervisor Kathryn Barger was absent for last week’s meeting and vote.

The ordinance expands parking restrictions for “nonconforming vehicles,” which are defined as those measuring 8 feet wide, 7.5 feet tall or 20 feet long, including trailers and accessories.

The county already had restrictions in place for streets in unincorporated areas around Ladera Heights, View Park / Windsor Hills, Marina del Rey, Altadena, Long Beach, South Whittier / East Whittier / East La Mirada, West Whittier / Los Nietos and Whittier.

The ordinance adds the following unincorporated communities:

• Azusa / Charter Oak / Covina
• Del Aire / Lennox
• East Los Angeles
• East Rancho Dominguez
• El Camino Village
• Florence-Firestone / Walnut Park
• Hawthorne
• Rancho Dominguez
• West Athens / Westmont
• West Carson
• West Los Angeles
• West Puente Valley / Valinda / South San Jose Hills
• West Rancho Dominguez / Willowbrook

Nonconforming vehicles must have a valid permit to park in those areas at any time, except for Marina del Rey, which requires a permit to park during overnight hours.

How enforcement works

New parking restrictions signs will be installed as the first step for enforcement, according to Steve Burger, deputy director of the Department of Public Works. He said officials have already started to manufacture the signs, but the posting process is expected to take about six months.

“Although we want to get the signs in and work with parking enforcement to start focusing where the need is the most,” Burger said during last week’s board meeting.

Lt. Tina Arevalo, acting captain of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Parking Enforcement Detail, which oversees unincorporated communities, said officers will be trained on how to enforce the ordinance in additional areas.

Mitchell said the ordinance doesn’t change the county’s process for responding to people who live in vehicles and won’t magically remove inhabited RVs overnight.

“We have been clear from the beginning that we will maintain our outreach protocols, and that the Homeless Services and Housing Department is responsible for working through the standing list of encampment hotspots,” Mitchell said.

The process for removing uninhabited vehicles will stay the same under the ordinance. Arevalo said authorities will mark those vehicles, before coming back in three days to have it towed.

Comments from the communities

Many members of the public who commented about the ordinance said they supported the move, including several business owners in unincorporated communities.

Angela Sierra wrote that the ordinance is "absolutely necessary” for businesses around Rancho Dominguez to be able to continue growing and hiring staff.

“We have a lack of parking due to all the non-conforming vehicles, and our employees and clients frequently express concerns over safety as they are forced to park illegally on the train tracks due to the nonconforming vehicles which are on our streets and stay for days and weeks on end,” Sierra wrote in a comment.

But others pushed back against the new parking restrictions, including Kennedy and members of the Venice Justice Committee.

“I don't understand why this is even going through without providing some type of parking resources for the people living in their RVs prior to creating restrictions against them,” she said during Tuesday’s public comment. “That's wrong.”

Chris Tilly, a UCLA professor of urban planning, wrote that the ordinance would destroy residences of many people who have no other housing alternatives. Tilly noted that large RVs had parked near his Venice home “on many occasions.”

“But we got to know the RV owner, as well as being familiar with the survey results from the recent UCLA report on vehicle residents, so we understand that these are people doing their best to survive under difficult circumstances,” Tilly wrote in a public comment. “Please do not make their lives worse.”

The ordinance goes into effect in 30 days, officials said.