Calgary city councillors opted to park the conversation on RV storage on residential driveways during the camping months, having questions on enforcement, neighbour conflicts and identifying out-of-town units.
The bylaw amendments that came to Wednesday’s Community Development Committee meeting would have allowed Calgary RV owners the option of storing their RV on their driveway for any duration from May to October.
It also examined allowing out-of-town RV units street parking in front of homes with the permission of adjacent neighbours, for up to 36 hours.
Councillors voted to refer the matter back to administration for further work to come back in Q1 2024.
Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp had several questions about the item, including people using them as rental units, difficulty in enforcement and on-street parking.
“It’s the principle of on-street parking and that the street is public – you don’t own the street in front of your home,” she said.
“I think asking permission from adjacent property owners to park sets an unfortunate double standard. That just doesn’t make any sense.”
Sharp said that with ongoing conflict over the residential parking permits and potential changes, this is a classic case of working in silos.
Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean was worried about the enforcement of the bylaw. He said that the report indicates that the existing bylaw was already resource intensive to enforce. He thought these changes might ratchet up the need for resources.
Admin said they believed that having a clear, concise bylaw would make it more transparent to enforce.
Ward 11 Coun. Kourtney Penner, who chairs the committee said her colleagues raised good questions, particularly around the on-street parking.
She addressed the parallel issues of RV parking and residential parking being done separately.
“I think this is where we see policy overlaps and there can be multiple conversations around the same issue happening at the same time,” she said.
“Making sure that work is aligned through administration is important.”
The item referral still needs approval at July 4 meeting of Calgary city council.
