Oak Harbor City Council is considering an ordinance that would ban recreational and commercial vehicles from parking on city streets for more than a brief time.

The ordinance would regulate where people can park an RV and restrict parking RVs on city streets to 72 hours. Parking could be allowed on driveways and in side or rear yards if there is enough space. This ordinance “contemplates storing them in commercial lots,” Development Services Director David Kuhl told the council during a meeting last week.

“The commercial capability I’m told here in town is not great,” he said. “There aren’t a lot of places that have the ability to store RVs and boats.”

However, this proposal could cause more of a demand for commercial lots to be built.

Kuhl said the rationale for proposing the restriction is safety for cars, bicycles and pedestrians. RVs are large vehicles and can block vision at street corners and driveways. City streets were not created to store RVs and trailers merely for temporary parking.

“What you see in town is a lot of neighborhoods where you have boats and RV’s basically stored on the street in front of people’s houses,” said Kuhl. “And by storage I mean six months to a year.”

The ordinance would also limit commercial vehicles to parking on city streets only while work is being done. At any other time, those vehicles would not be permitted to park on the street. Commercial vehicles are defined as tow trucks, dump trucks, truck tractors, concrete mixing trucks, stake bed trucks and buses. Unlike RVs, these vehicles could not be stored on driveways or in side and rear yards.

Kuhl said the benefits of this ordinance would be increasing safety on streets, reserving parking areas for intended use and preserving neighborhood character.

“Council members, I leave that to you to define what neighborhood character should be,” said Kuhl.

Councilmember Dan Evans asked Code Compliance Officer Ray Heltsley how the ordinance would affect people who live in RVs and park on the street.

“As with all of our codes, we will enforce it by complaint,” Heltsley said. “If someone is affected by what is going on and they complain and the investigation shows that it indeed affects them negatively, then we will enforce it.”

Police Chief Kevin Dresker said if the vehicle is parked on the street, it falls under the jurisdiction of the police. If it is parked on private property, it is a “code enforcement issue,” he said. In reference to people living in RVs, Dresker said he did not “necessarily want to go into detail about that right now.”

Heltsley said this code is not aimed at people who live in RVs.

“That’s gotta be addressed in other ways,” he said.

Councilmember Jim Woessner wondered why this particular issue was “rising to the top.”

“I drive through a lot of neighborhoods and I see plenty of on-street parking available,” he said.

Heltsley responded that over the years, the growth of Oak Harbor has exacerbated the issue.

“If someone anticipates that there’s a problem coming, why not work on it before it’s a serious problem? That’s what we’re doing,” he said.

Woessner said he would rather see the issue resolved through people having to obtain a permit to park their vehicles on the street for more than 72 hours, especially since Oak Harbor does not have affordable commercial vehicle storage. Heltsley agreed it was a good alternative to consider.

Kuhl said he would look into the suggestion and bring the idea back to a future city council workshop.