Greenfield City Council moves toward allowing RV parking on private property long-term.

Greenfield City Council is refining its RV parking ordinances to allow recreational vehicles and trailers to be parked on private property, including front yards and side yards. 

On Sept. 22, the council directed staff to include similar language to what is included in equivalent ordinances in the cities of Salinas and Campbell. Both say parked vehicles shouldn’t impede safe exit and entrance, including at emergency exits. 

The ordinance follows the success of a pilot parking program for recreational vehicles. 

In 2024, the City of Greenfield began its boat and trailer parking pilot program to alleviate parking congestion on city streets. Back then, residents couldn’t park them in their driveways, so they either parked on the street or paid to store the vehicles elsewhere.

A report shared with the council in May says the program was “successful in promoting orderly parking on city streets.”

Since July, the council has considered making this pilot program permanent. People living in the parked RVs won’t be allowed. 

Greenfield's Chief of Police, Guillermo Mixer, says Greenfield, like other cities in the region, experiences overcrowding conditions, meaning more vehicles on the streets. “When [drivers] are looking for parking, they can’t park on the street if there are trailers or RVs taking up to two or three parking spaces,” Mixer says. 

Mixer says he supports the ordinance because it adds more street parking, and if vehicles are kept clean and don't block transit, they won’t be a nuisance. 

Enforcement in the city and calls about parked vehicles come in waves and increase from spring to fall, when the city welcomes many agricultural workers during the harvest season. “It’s hard to park anywhere, especially during the summer months,” City Manager Paul Wood adds.