Three new members will join the Mountain View City Council after the November election, and one of the first big questions they face is what to do about the hundreds of RVs and trailers parked on city streets.
A 2023 class action settlement requires the city to keep at least three miles of streets open to oversized vehicles on both sides. That deal ends Feb. 28, 2027. After that, the council could add new parking limits beyond the city's existing bans on narrow streets and streets with bike lanes, according to the Mountain View Voice, whose reporting was republished by San José Spotlight.
A growing count
A June city staff report found 438 inhabited vehicles on Mountain View streets, up from 306 seven months earlier, and 402 of them were RVs and trailers. Staff pointed to lost parking on El Camino Real for new bike lanes and tougher rules in nearby cities, including Palo Alto. Businesses including Intuit, Google and Nuro have raised concerns through the Chamber of Commerce, and Intuit has offered to pay for bike lanes near its campus that would push RVs off several streets. Staff plan to bring that plan to the council in December.
Where the candidates stand
Eight candidates are running for the three open seats, and none is an incumbent. At an Oct. 8 forum hosted by the Voice and the League of Women Voters, several favored more limits on oversized vehicles. Paul Donahue and Silja Paymer suggested banning "vanlording," the practice of renting out RVs parked on public streets. Robert Cox wants a council study session on the city's legal options once the settlement ends.
Others leaned the other way. Sam Ali and Alex Amoroso called for more safe parking lots and stronger paths into permanent housing. James Kuszmaul said the existing safe parking lots can't hold all the RVs and that more street limits would push people deeper into homelessness. Erik Poicon and IdaRose Sylvester said the city should review streets one by one for real safety problems.
Candidates also split on how to respond to Senate Bill 79, the state law allowing denser housing near transit such as the downtown Caltrain station. Several backed a local alternative plan to protect the historic downtown, while Kuszmaul supported the law. The top three vote-getters on Nov. 3 win seats.