People who live in or leave RVs and other large vehicles parked on the streets of the District of North Vancouver could soon find themselves facing stiffer enforcement.
Councillors voted last week to explore a variety of options to target the vehicles, ranging from increased education to more parking restrictions and tougher compliance measures.
“I don’t think that maintaining the status quo on this is going to be satisfactory,” Mayor Mike Little told the meeting in calling for staff to explore all the options.
Staff conducted a count in February that found 76 large vehicles parked on district streets, all of them licensed. The biggest cluster was in the area around Lloyd and 3rd avenues, with a secondary cluster on a piece of provincially-owned land near Capilano Road and the Upper Levels Highway known as Bowser Island.
A similar count in June found 59 such vehicles, some of which appeared to be lived in, staff told council.
“People use their vehicles as an alternative form of shelter and housing for many reasons — a personal choice, an affordable housing option, or out of necessity to avoid being unsheltered,” a staff report to council noted states.
“Staff have generally taken a sparing approach to enforcing parking regulations for large and recreational vehicles used as accommodation, provided these vehicles are maintained in a safe and orderly manner. This approach is limited to areas with minimal parking conflicts with other users.”
Coun. Betty Forbes said those conflicts are on the rise, with a growing number of complaints about safety concerns in the areas, citing one business owner to said she now keeps her door locked during business hours.
“We can’t just keep letting them sit there. Some of those people really need housing and some of them are really abusive of our rules,” she said.
“I just want something done as soon as possible.”
Coun. Lisa Muri said she was hearing a particularly large number of concerns about vehicles parked near the North Vancouver Tennis Centre, an area that needed some “immediate relief.”
“There is a great security risk that many people feel, so we need to do some quick wins, some low-hanging fruit,” she said.
Coun. Jim Hanson agreed there was a need for stepped up enforcement, but argued that kicking people who live in their vehicles out of the district also wasn’t an answer.
“People have said to me, ‘I can’t afford to live in a house, I don’t want to live in the forest, where can I live in an RV,’ and the answer is nowhere,” he said.
“If we are going to tell people that they can’t live in their RVs in our community, from my view, we need to create a safe and hygienic location with proper services and proper security where these people can go live in their RVs.”
Hanson argued the district identify and set up such a site, with facilities including toilets and running water, and “send the bill to the provincial government.”
Staff have been directed to come back to council with a deeper analysis of next steps, including budgetary and resource concerns.