VOTE NO on Measure C!

What is the motorhome ban?

On October 22, 2019, by a 4-3 vote, the Mountain View City Council passed a law that bans street parking of motorhomes almost everywhere. The ordinance bans oversized vehicles (22 feet long, 7 feet wide, or 7 feet high) from parking on “narrow” streets (40 feet wide or less). This accounts for almost all Mountain View streets. It displaces over 200 motorhome households. The final outcome will be decided by the voters in the Nov. 2020 election after we led an all volunteer effort to put a referendum on the ballot asking voters to overturn the ban. Almost 5,000 Mountain View votes signed the petition.

Council also unanimously passed an ordinance that prohibits parking for oversized vehicles on streets with bike lanes. That will take effect on January 1, 2020. We are not opposing this ordinance.

What about other solutions to homelessness?

We should also be looking at long term solutions, but in the short term, we shouldn’t displace our neighbors. The proposed Safe Parking program only accommodates around 60 motorhome residents, and there is a waiting list - the current lots are at or near capacity.

Links

• Mountain View City Council maps of no-RV streets (see items 6 and 7)
• Mountain View Sustainable Planning Coalition on the RV Ban
• Silicon Valley Law Foundation on the RV Ban
• StopTheRVBan.com
• Volunteer

Our responses to arguments against motorhomes in our community

• That’s reasonable and people living in oversized vehicles understand that. Occupied motorhomes rarely park in front of homes and must move every 72 hours.
• The ban would restrict motorhome parking even in areas where they would be unobtrusive — along a fence or wall, not blocking driveways or buildings, and in out of the way areas. Motorhomes would all have to park on the few non-banned busy streets.

• To enforce that motorhomes are taking care of trash, that they are not being noisy at night, that they are managing waste, we need city outreach and enforcement. That would be a good use of city resources. We have been hearing stories that sound like harassment, not enforcement. That's not fair, and it's not effective.
• This ban would force more people to live in passenger vehicles, which are not equipped to handle waste, or even worse, to camp by our creeks. It would make sanitation issues worse, not better.

• We support the constitutional principle that cities cannot force out people if they have no place to go.
• The law that prohibits parking oversized vehicles on streets with bike lanes will move motorhomes to less visible locations already.
• These families will not all leave town. A lot of people living in oversized vehicles have low income jobs in Mountain View, and some of them also have children in school in Mountain View. They want to keep their jobs, and they really want to keep their children in their schools. Many are only renting RV's. They don't have money to buy a smaller vehicle. They are going to end up sleeping in doorways if the total motorhome ban goes forward.