Supervisors approve targeted overnight limits on oversized vehicle parking with implementation delays and study requirements

Members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to approve on first reading an ordinance that lets the Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) post signs to prohibit overnight parking of oversized vehicles between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. in locations the agency identifies as chronically impacted. The vote followed extensive debate about enforcement, impacts on people living in vehicles, and required study and transition services.

The measure defines oversized vehicles using the California Vehicle Code thresholds Supervisor Chu recited at the hearing — vehicles over 22 feet in length or 7 feet in height, and examples including camp trailers, fifth-wheel travel trailers, house cars, trailer coaches, mobile homes, recreational vehicles and semi-trailers. “I do want to say that this is a parking issue that we are talking about here,” Supervisor Chu told colleagues after describing MTA’s analysis showing many vehicles were registered within San Francisco but parked outside the owner’s neighborhood.

A package of amendments led by President Chu and seconded by Supervisor Campos earned board approval before the final vote. Those amendments push the ordinance’s operative date to March 1, 2013, and require the…