Montgomery County residents won’t be able to park their motor homes or campers on the street in front of their houses after new parking regulations go into effect Wednesday.
Instead, recreational vehicle owners will have 18 hours to park on the street to load and unload their rigs, and will then have to park in a private space. Under current laws, RVs can only be parked on public roads for 24 hours, unless they are in front of an owner’s house, in which case they can remain parked the street.
News of the impending regulations has made the rounds on RV-based news Web sites, with an underlying message of “RVs are not welcome here, go somewhere else,” said Dr. Earlene Jordan, a county resident and RV owner.
“As a suburb of the nation’s capital, I find this remarkable given the amount of tourists who come here annually,” Jordan said in a letter to the Montgomery County Council. “RVing is typically associated with older folks and families. … It’s as wholesome and American as anything I know.” The county’s new rules will also prohibit heavy commercial vehicles, boats, campers and buses from parking in residential areas. Tickets for breaking the new rules will be $75.
Making streets safer was the goal of the new regulations, according to Council President Phil Andrews. He said larger vehicles diminished a driver’s line of site on small residential streets and made accidents between drivers and pedestrians more likely.
“Most people who live in residential neighborhoods are supportive of the effort to have streets that are safe,” Andrews said.
The council unanimously approved the measure in January with the support of homeowners concerned that the large vehicles were decreasing their property values.
“I pity the homeowners whose town homes offer them not a view of the park that graces their home fronts, but of a parking lot of equipment that for most of the year is virtually abandoned,” county resident Terry Wilson told the council in a letter before passed the new rules.
