Fees, fines, tow rules planned for RVs

Evanston aldermen tonight are scheduled to consider a new ordinance that would sharply restrict the parking of recreational vehicles on city streets.

The ordinance would require a $50 permit fee to park an RV on the street, limit the parking period to 72 hours, limit the number of permits that could be issued to a vehicle to four per year, and limit issuance of permits to city residents and their guests.

It would also impose a $100 per day fine for violations of the ordinance and authorize towing of RVs that were parked illegally for more than five days.

And even with a permit, no overnight camping in RVs would be allowed.

The staff memo outlining the proposed ordinance doesn’t provide any indication of troubles caused by RV parking in the city, but does provide descriptions of similar ordinances in four other communities.

Of those towns, Evergreen Park bans overnight RV parking on streets, Elgin completely bans on-street parking by RVs, and Licolnwood and Skokie require prior approval by the police department for on-street RV parking.

The proposed Evanston ordinance uses the state statutory definition of a recreational vehicle, which includes “Every camping trailer, motor home, mini motor home, travel trailer, truck camper or van camper used primarily for recreational purposes and not used commercially nor owned by a commercial business.”