New rules for RV driveway and street parking could be in place next spring, as Calgary clarifies year-round storage for the vehicles.
Councillors at the Nov. 27 Community Development Committee unanimously approved the measures, which provided guidelines on RV storage for both homes having a driveway and those without.
The revisions come by request from council after the initial draft guidelines were referred back to administration for changes to the number of days allowed, and rules for on and off-street parking. Council has been examining ways to deal with the community impact of residential RV storage since last summer.
The proposed changes would allow an RV parked on-street, adjacent to homes without a driveway year-round for three consecutive days before having to be off-site for two consecutive days.
For homes with driveways, RV can be stored on street in the winter with the same rules as homes without a driveway, but no parking on the driveway. In the summer, there’s no parking on the street, and it can stay for three consecutive days on the driveway before having to be removed for two days. Winter is defined by the dates Nov. 1 to March 31, and summer from April 1 to Oct. 31.
When a vehicle is on a driveway, it must be at least one metre away from the back of the curb, sidewalk or pathway in front of the property. Further, there’s no RV parking in a 7.5 metre corner visibility triangle.
“Administration believes that this set of bylaw amendments strike an appropriate balance between the perceived negative impact on neighbourhood esthetics of RV parking versus convenience for RV owners,” said Duane Bruce, business strategist with the City of Calgary.
He said the changes attempt to “minimize attempts to undermine the effect of the amendments… or trying to remedy a situation where an RV owner could move their RV from a front driveway and then to the street immediately adjoining their property, back and forth between the driveway and the front street.”
On-street RVs for dense neighbourhoods
Ward 7 Coun. Terry Wong questioned how city bylaw or parking enforcement would manage areas with a higher density that lacked a front driveway. The example he gave was a rowhouse development.
“I’m just thinking of situations, you come back on a Sunday afternoon and the rowhouse you might have, let’s say, 80 feet to work with, and 80 feet are taken up by every other car,” he said.
Todd Sullivan, manager of Parking Safety and Compliance with the City of Calgary, said that they would apply discretion with each case. That could mean a person could reasonably park across the street or in a nearby location.
“If the individual is attempting to comply to the best of their ability, the parking officer, we would have access to where their residence is, take the opportunity to speak with them, and if they’re making every effort to comply on it as quickly as possible and move the vehicle, then we would provide them the opportunity to do so,” he said.
“However, if it is a matter of just routinely parking in front of your neighbour’s house rather than your own, we may have to take additional steps.”
Further, city admin said that it’s always wise to engage your neighbour in conversation if you are parking the RV outside the rules. They added that their response to RV parking instances would be complaint-based and that could be alleviated by talking with nearby residents.
The bylaw would go into effect on April 1, 2025.
It still needs full debate and final approval at an upcoming regular meeting of Calgary city council.
