Palo Alto considers banning oversized vehicles, RVs from parking on certain streets

By CBS Bay Area

Palo Alto City Council is considering a proposal that would prohibit oversized vehicles and RVs from parking on alternating sides of certain streets and allow parking in some parts of the neighborhood with a permit. 

Officials said about 73% of the city’s unhoused residents are living in vehicles, which the city said is high compared to countywide data of 53%. 

Phase 1 of the pilot program prohibited detached trailers on public streets, while adding street sweeping and cleanings to 18 impacted streets. Officials also implemented a vehicle buyback and storage program. As a result, the city said there was a decline of such vehicles from 191 to 133 between January and May of this year. 

If approved, Phase 2 of the program would last 12 months.

“I’m usually on my bicycle, I ride these streets over here,” Robert Marinaro, a resident, told CBS News Bay Area. “I basically count the number of RVs over here. There used to be a lot more garbage on the street.”

For the past 10 months, he said he’s been documenting RVs in Palo Alto. 

“They shouldn’t be parking on the streets where the businesses and residents are, there should be designated spots for them,” he said, adding that neighbors are concerned about safety.

 Through Phase 2 of the program, if approved, the city would enable 37 eligible oversized vehicle residents to park at designated spots along Embarcadero Road and Coyote Hill. They’d need to pay up to $15 a month for the permit. The program would also prohibit parking on alternating sides during six months of the year, on the more populated streets like East Meadow Circle and Faber Place.

Officials said with this parking prohibition, the streets will retain parking for up to 116 oversized vehicles during the six months, and up to about 125 vehicles during the following six months. 

“Just push us to another city and then the same process? How is this a resolution for any of us?” one RV resident, who asked for anonymity, said. “Everybody is just trying to make a living here. You just need to check the housing prices in the area. Nobody is trying to have the benefits of not paying rent. We are struggling, things are expensive.”

“We are not damaging the city, why can’t we stay on the streets?” Jean Leal, who also lives in an RV with his wife and daughter, told CBS News Bay Area. “Not affordable to rent an apartment or a house. So, that’s not the way I’d like to stay with my family, even my daughter, but that’s the only way we have to survive.”

CBS News Bay Area reached out to the city of Palo Alto for an interview, and instead received this statement: 

“Homelessness and vehicle habitation continue to present complex policy, operational, and community impacts in Palo Alto with about 73% of Palo Alto’s unhoused residents are living in vehicles. Last year, the City reported increased concerns from residents and the business community regarding long-term parking of oversized vehicles (OSVs), reduced parking availability, debris and personal belongings in the public right-of-way, and other issues. The City Council will consider a series of actions on August 24 that would build on previous actions approved by the Council during the Oversized Vehicle Phase I implementation, including enforcement, towing, cleanup, and service coordination measures. Recommendations seek to address ongoing neighborhood, business, public health, and safety impacts by reducing the OSV parking available within impacted areas by approximately 50%, while still providing capacity to meet existing demand. Two pilot actions are under review. One prohibiting OSV parking on specific sides of identified streets during designated six-month periods of the year. The other establishing a permit process for eligible OSV dwellers to park in designated segments of specific streets.”

Meanwhile, Marinaro is optimistic that this pilot program could make an impact. 

“I’m not really a political guy, I don’t like doing this. But I feel so strongly that it needs to be corrected,” he said. 

If approved by city council, Phase 2 of the program will begin in January 2027.