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San Clemente committee weighs tighter rules for long-term on-street vehicle storage
Summary
A resident urged the Community Safety & Welfare Committee to modernize the city's 72-hour on-street parking rule and adopt a half-mile move requirement used by nearby cities; staff will ask the vehicle and e-bike safety program to develop recommendations for council consideration.
A Shorecliffs resident told the Community Safety & Welfare Committee that a neighbor's vehicles have occupied a block of Via Bandida for years and urged the committee to change San Clemente's 72-hour on-street parking law so vehicles must be moved a half mile rather than merely repositioned.
The resident said the 72-hour rule, "established back in 1959," is no longer effective and described repeated complaint calls and tire-chalking that are skirted by motorists who move a vehicle a few inches rather than meaningfully relocate it. He pointed to ordinances adopted by nearby cities, including San Diego and Dana Point, that require a longer move to discourage the "move-a-few-inches" tactic.
City staff reminded the committee that current local code treats passenger vehicles and larger commercial or recreational vehicles differently and noted enforcement challenges. A staff speaker summarized the baseline: "You should not have a car on a public street for more than 72 hours without it moving," and explained the half-mile rule typically applies to wide/commercial vehicles and is harder to apply to passenger cars without clear operational methods.
Committee members discussed alternatives raised by residents and staff: a Pasadena-style resident-permit program, posted street-sweeper signage and enforcement, targeted restrictions for trailers and recreational vehicles, and a requirement that vehicles be moved a defined distance. Some members cautioned about fairness in denser neighborhoods and the practical burden of enforcement if staff or the sheriff's office must track frequent complaints.
Rather than drafting an ordinance at the meeting, the committee directed the city's vehicle and e-bike safety program to study options and return with a staff recommendation the committee could forward to the city council. That referral was framed as a staff-driven work item; no ordinance vote took place.
The committee asked staff to include enforcement implications, signage and resident-permit models in the forthcoming recommendation so council members can weigh trade-offs between enforcement cost and neighborhood impacts.
