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South Salt Lake Journal

City council tackles RV parking with new permit

May 03, 2019 09:03AM ● By Bill Hardesty

An RV parked on a South Salt Lake City street. RVs are now required to have a parking permit. (Bill Hardesty/City Journals)

By Bill Hardesty |[email protected]

When grandma and grandpa roll up in their RV for a visit, be sure to hustle them down to the South Salt Lake City police station for a RV parking permit according to an ordinance passed by the city council on April 3 and signed into law by Mayor Cherie Wood the following day.

The ordinance went into effect April 6 and requires that “No person shall park a Recreational Vehicle on any street, highway, or road within the corporate limits of the City of South Salt Lake” without a valid RV parking permit. One exception is if the vehicle is broken down for repairs not to exceed 12 hours.

For $25, either a city property owner or tenant or a guest of a city property owner or tenant, will be given a RV parking pass that is good for 10 consecutive days. In addition, the permit is not renewable, and a new permit will not be given for 30 days. A valid driver’s license, registration and insurance must be provided for a permit.

The cost of parking without a permit is $100 for each occurrence.

This ordinance also makes it illegal to “run electrical cords, extension cords, hoses, cables or other items above or across on the park strip or sidewalk from a residential or commercial property to a Recreational Vehicle.”

There are 10 roads or portions of roads not subject to this ordinance mainly because they are state roads. They are:

  1. 300 East and 500 East north of 2700 South
  2. West Temple
  3. 1100 West
  4. 2100 South
  5. 2700 South
  6. 3300 South 
  7. 400 East between 2100 South and Haven Avenue
  8. Wentworth Avenue between 400 East and 500 East
  9. Interstate 80
  10. 3900 South

The why

The catalyst for this ordinance was problems last year when recreational vehicles were parked on residential and industrial streets without any connection to residents.

“Unless they are in violation of other ordinances, we didn’t have any way to move people on,” Police Chief Jack Carruth said when the ordinance was first proposed.

This ordinance is focused on the “transient nature” of some RV users who “are often a source of illegal activity, including illegal dumping,” the ordinance states.

The city council also stated, “Parking of recreational vehicles … has the ability to negatively affect public health, safety and welfare.” 

Other council actions

During the same meeting, the city council passed (7-0) an ordinance repealing and replacing parts of the municipal code concerning storm water. This action was part of required actions from a 2016 State Water Quality audit.

This action is 1 of 47 required deficiencies reported in the audit.

In case of this ordinance, no major changes were made. The ordinance simply cleared up conflicting language and defined terms better.