City council committee votes down changes to RV parking in Calgary

A Calgary city council committee has defeated a motion to allow RV parking outside homes during camping season.

However, the motion, defeated in a 6-5 vote, has been recommended to go to council as a failed item.

Currently, Calgarians aren’t allowed to park their campers in their front drive for longer than 36 hours.

If passed, the bylaw would have changed that so Calgarians could park their trailers in their front driveways from May to September.

During the meeting, councillors like Peter Demong had a lot of concerns, mainly about how it would impact the other neighbours.

“The older communities that you describe in the prairie provinces, you’ve got a yard and a half, two or three metres between each house and each driveway. Right now, there’s lucky to have more than two feet between each driveway,” he said. “I’ve got to tell you, this is going to just be poking the bear in the newer communities, you start [having] these RVs sit on the driveway all summer — that’s a major problem you’ve got coming forward.”

But, Coun. Jasmine Mian argued that the changes would strike a fair balance.

“I don’t think it’s a stretch too far. I think it’s allowing it for the camping season when people use it but not all year-round,” she said. “I also think one of the reasons we have neighbour-on-neighbour conflict with this issue right now is because 36 hours is hard to police.”

Mian, alongside Couns. Carra, McLean, Penner, and Walcott voted to pass the motion, while Demong, Couns. Chabot, Dhaliwal, Pootmans, Sharp and Wong voted against it.

The Community Development Committee says results from a survey of more than 10,000 respondents were mixed.

More than half — 55 per cent — support the idea, saying seasonal parking of RVs, campers, and trailers on front driveways is a matter of convenience and property rights.

However, 45 per cent said they’re opposed, citing visual pollution and sanitation concerns.