Proposed change to RV parking rules rejected by city committee

A city council committee has rejected a proposal that would allow Calgarians to park their recreational vehicles — such as motorhomes, campers or tent trailers — in their front driveway all summer long.

Coun. Peter Demong, the Ward 14 councillor, is among those who disagree with the proposed change.

"I think this is basically going to be poking the bear with regard to the neighbour-on-neighbour conflict that we, as a council, seem to enjoy doing to our Calgary citizens," Demong said during the debate on Wednesday.

"I certainly will be voting against this."

As it stands, the current bylaw around front driveways limits RV parking to 36 hours only, year-round.

But the proposed amendments would relax those rules during the summer camping season, meaning unlimited RV parking in front driveways from May 15 to Sept. 15.

The changes would allow for more flexibility for RV owners, according to city administration. 

Councillors who support the proposed change say the current bylaw sparks a substantial number of parking complaints about RV owners who don't follow the 36-hour rule. 

Ward 3 Coun. Jasmine Mian says this change could free up bylaw officers to focus on other matters.

"The challenge with rules like 36 hours is that: who's clocking that? It's hard to enforce," she said. "Most other cities … just allow it for the camping season, but don't allow it for the winter months, and I think that's the correct balance."

Debates around the bylaw become more complex as RV ownership grows in Calgary. As of 2022, there were over 100,000 RVs registered citywide. 

Mian also believes the proposed change helps to address the ongoing challenge of affordability, and could help Calgarians save money on RV storage costs.

"That's about one-fifth of households that have these. It's a great way to think about how we can drive affordability in ways beyond the tax rate," she said.

But Coun. Andre Chabot says he's not so sure this is an affordability concern.

"Question is, how many people need this? This is not an affordability issue because people who can afford RVs typically can afford storage space to park their RVs," he said. "So this isn't about that."

Some of the other risks of the proposed change cited by committee members involve the negative impact on community esthetics, or a potential decrease in available street parking if driveways are occupied by RVs.  

When it comes to concerns about obstructions to accessibility or visibility for drivers, the city says this could be mitigated by rules mandating that RVs must stay one metre away from the sidewalk, plus staying back from corners if the front driveway is on a corner lot. 

Proposed change defeated, for now

But Wednesday's meeting resulted in a narrow rejection, as the committee voted 6-5 against the proposed change.

Councillors Mian, Courtney Walcott, Gian-Carlo Carra, Dan McLean and Kourtney Penner voted for the change, while Demong, Chabot, Raj Dhaliwal, Richard Pootmans, Sonya Sharp and Terry Wong all voted against it.

Although defeated by the committee, city council will still have the final say on the issue when it debates the proposal and votes on it during its meeting on Feb. 27.