The Mountain View City Council voted 4-3 Tuesday night to ban RVs in residential neighborhoods and any streets with a bike lane. RVs will still be allowed to park in industrial areas.
The controversial vote came after a battle between homeowners, who argued that RVs clog small streets, and people who live in RVs, who said they have nowhere else to go.
According to the city, there are nearly 400 RVs in Mountain View that appear to have people living in them. City data indicates that the fire department and the public service department responded to more than 50 instances of RVs either leaking or dumping sewage on city streets over the past 2.5 years.
The city could offer a safe parking program, but it would be on privately owned lots, likely in industrial areas.
"We want to make it as easy as possible for anybody who owns a surface lot anywhere in the city of Mountain View to be able to operate a safe parking program," Mountain View Communications Coordinator Shonda Ranson said.
The newly approved ban will likely go into effect next June.
