Letter to send to towns that are
eliminating or restricting overnight parking
The
problem of restricted overnight parking for RVs is increasing in cities
throughout our travels. Jim O'Briant, moderator, of OvernightRVParking Yahoo
Group, has compiled an excellent letter that you can send to any mayor and city
council if the situation should arise.
****
Dear Mayor
_______ and members of the _______ City Council,
I see from online news reports that you're evaluating amendments to the
Municipal Code.
I'm an RVer (though not a "full-timer") who is active in several
online RV-Related discussion groups. Some of these exist primarily to
allow RVers to share information on locations where RVers are or aren't allowed
to park overnight, for one night only, while on a long journey to a distant
destination. I operate one of these discussion groups, the "OvernightRVParking"
Yahoo Group.
When an RVer is on a multi-day trip to a distant place, it's important that
he/she not drive while tired or sleepy. Thus, it's equally important that
the RVer be able to stop, park and sleep for several hours, in order to be able
to continue safely the next morning. Many businesses have a policy of welcoming
RVers who would like to park overnight in their parking lots for this purpose.
Wal-Mart, Flying J and Cracker Barrel are probably the best known of these, but
there are many others as well.
When an RVer's plans include only a stop of several hours to sleep, there's no
need for such things as swimming pools, horseshoe pits, game rooms, craft
classes, and the other amenities provided by many commercial campgrounds and RV
parks. And there's no need to pay for those amenities, either, if one isn't
going to use them. There are also issues when campgrounds aren't open all year,
or when their office isn't open past the early evening hours to provide check-in
services for RVs who may arrive late in the evening.
Thus, when communities pass ordinances that prohibit an RVer from sleeping in
his RV for such purposes, RVers simply don't stop in that community. They'll
plan their trip so as to stop overnight elsewhere, for example at a store in
another town down the road, and they'll buy food, fuel and other supplies in the
community where they stop. (It's a common RVer joke that "free"
overnight parking in these places is anything but free -- we often spend far
more on restaurant meals, fuel, groceries and other supplies than we'd pay to
stay overnight in a commercial campground.)
From a community's standpoint, there is also the important issue of RVers who
try to abuse the overnight parking privilege that is so graciously extended by
many businesses. They don't park, they set up camp -- extending slide out
rooms, unfurling awnings, and setting out lawn furniture and BBQ grills in the
parking lot. This isn't parking, it's camping, and it isn't
what these businesses intend. There are also those who instead of parking
for a night will try to set up housekeeping for several days or weeks in a
parking lot. This isn't what the host businesses intend, either, nor is it
what a community wants.
I certainly understand the need for [ YOUR CITY] and other cities to take
the necessary legal steps to prohibit the kind of abuses that I described in the
paragraph above. However, I hope that you won't amend your ordinance in
such a way as to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
The majority of RVers are responsible good citizens. When we need a
night's sleep on a long journey, we graciously avail ourselves of the invitation
to park overnight in a parking lot and get some sleep so that we can drive
safely the next day. We wouldn't consider setting up camp and grilling out in
someone's parking lot, and we're appalled at the thought of emptying our waste
holding tanks anyplace but in a designated RV dump station.
RVers also communicate continually via the Internet. When a city or town
passes a law that prohibits overnight RV parking, thousands of RVers know about
it within days. The general reaction is this: "If Anytown, USA
doesn't want me to park overnight there, I won't. But I also won't stop
there, or buy anything there. I'll take my money and spend it in a city
where I'm welcome." Two cities which have faced widely publicized
RVer boycotts in the past couple of years are Laughlin, NV and Billings, MT.
(In both of these cases, it was local RV Park owners who pressed for the
overnight parking ban. In both cases, the adverse publicity led the cities
to discard the idea of an outright ban in favor of an ordinance that prohibited
the abuses described above while still welcoming responsible, good-citizen RVers
to park overnight in their city -- and spend their money there.)
As you consider amendments to your ordinance, I hope you'll consider including
the following:
* Please allow RVs to park overnight, for one night only, in parking lots of
businesses who choose to allow it. You may wish to consider including a
time limit such as 12 or 18 or 24 hours, so that RVers will have time not only
to sleep, but also to purchase fuel, do some shopping and/or dine out in (name
of town).
* Require that RVs that park overnight must be self-contained, including their
own waste holding tanks.
* Retain Paragraph "B," which outlaws dumping "gray water"
(sink and shower drain water) or "black water" (toilet waste) other
than at an approved dump station.
* You may wish to consider a requirement that RV's parked overnight as described
above must be in "ready to drive" condition; that is, trailers may not
be unhooked; motor homes may not extend levelers, slides or awnings; and nothing
may be set outside the RV -- no use of grills, lawn furniture, etc. (The State
of Wyoming allows RVs to park overnight in rest areas along
highways and Interstates, and this is one of their rules. It works well,
allowing the RVer to sleep when sleep is needed, while keeping irresponsible
folks from setting up camp.)
I believe that if the City of (name of city) adopts this approach -- welcoming
responsible RVers and their travel dollars while outlawing undesirable behaviors
by the irresponsible few -- it will pay dividends in terms of positive
nationwide publicity in the RVing community and more tourist dollars spent in
your community.
Thanks and best regards,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you want to
participate in this group, visit
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/OvernightRVParking"
The Escapees RV Club provides a letter (or cards) that you can
leave on the windshield of RVers who do not follow proper boondocking etiquette
in parking lots. Download it here.
