RESTRICTIONS LOOM ON PARKING RVS.

Byline: Angela M. Lemire Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - After six months of neighborhood meetings, balancing opposing viewpoints and studying other communities for possible solutions, city officials have come up with a proposed ordinance to restrict street parking of motor homes and other large vehicles.

The draft - which evolved from complaints about the parking of large recreation vehicles at the sides of city streets - is being reworked to include more provisions that city residents have recently requested, officials said.

The proposed ordinance deals with vehicles 23 feet or longer, 8 feet or taller and 7 feet or wider. If a vehicle meets at least two of those three dimension criteria, it would be illegal to park it on the street weekdays, except for legal holidays, without a handicapped-parking permit or a special three-day permit from the city. Vehicle owners could apply for a three-day permit as often as three times in a 90-day period.

There would be exceptions to the rule for loading or unloading or emergency repairs. The final draft of the proposed ordinance would put a 24-hour time limit on emergency parking, city officials said.

The city staff is continuing to compile data from a community survey on the issue, to find out how much off-street parking area is available for large vehicles and to count the number of city residents who would be affected by the proposed ordinance, a city management analyst, Ken Striplin, said Monday.

City officials also are trying to find out how the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department would deal with city residents' complaints against neighbors, he said. Sheriff's deputies probably would cite illegally parked vehicles after neighbors complained, but would not patrol neighborhoods just to issue parking citations, said Striplin.

Vehicle owners would be able to appeal citations under the city's current code relating to parking fines, he added.

City officials began studying the issue six months ago after residents at neighborhood beautification meetings said parked recreation vehicles obstruct motorists' visibility, pose a danger to public safety vehicles and are neighborhood eyesores.

``RV owners felt strongly that it would be discriminatory if the ordinance applied only to RVs,'' said Berta Gonzalez-Harper, a Canyon Country resident and member of the city's ordinance task force.

All sides eventually agreed that the large size of a vehicle, not its use for recreation, is problematic, and so dimensions were introduced into the proposed ordinance, which would regulate not only motor vehicles but also boats and trailers.

Gonzalez-Harper said she considers the proposed ordinance a fair and flexible compromise that would let responsible owners keep access to their large vehicles and give neighbors and public officials the legal right to have potential hazards or eyesores removed.

City officials plan to hold a public hearing on a final draft of the proposed ordinance May 9.