Supervisors regulate on-street vehicles for sale, commercial vehicles parked in residential areas

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors took the first steps toward regulating vehicles with “for sale” signs parked on county roads and commercial vehicles parked in residential areas on county roads.

A 4-0 vote November 7, with Supervisor Pam Slater-Price absent, approved the introduction and first reading of the ordinance amendments to allow the changes. The ordinances will return to the supervisors December 5 for second readings and adoption. If adopted at the December 5 meeting, the ordinances would become effective January 4.

The supervisors also approved the first reading and introduction of ordinances involving procedural processing of road regulatory matters and of a parking prohibition on Vine Street.

The supervisors’ vote also directed county staff to return to the board in 180 days with an evaluation of the effectiveness of the ordinance restricting for sale signs.

“We should not have any of these sales lots, particularly in residential areas,” said Supervisor Dianne Jacob. “Currently there is no recourse to deal with the vehicle owners who display for sale signs on their vehicles.”

The ordinance is not intended to restrict individual owners who wish to place a single car, truck, motorhome, or other vehicle for sale. The existing ordinance exempts vehicles on public highways from the prohibition against commercial activity if the for sale sign is placed on a side window and the sign does not exceed 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches.

The new ordinance would maintain the small sign exemption but would also require that the vehicle not be parked within 500 feet of other vehicles advertised for sale. (Because the ordinance only applies to vehicles parked on a public road, the 500-foot restriction would not apply to a moving vehicle or to vehicles in a parking lot.)

The county’s Traffic Advisory Committee reviewed the proposed ordinance on June 8 with the intent of addressing roadways that are serving as used car sales lots. Following that meeting county staff submitted two proposed ordinance versions to County Counsel for review; one would have eliminated the exemption completely while the other was determined to be less stringent but still legally binding.

The restrictions on large commercial vehicles would define, for the purpose of the ordinance, a residential area as the portion of a highway where contiguous property on one of both sides of the highway includes a residential dwelling unit such as houses, apartments, or condominiums. Currently the only enforcement recourse against commercial vehicles being stored on residential roadways is when the 72-hour parking maximum is violated, but since those vehicles are used during the day that maximum is often not reached and large vehicles are frequently stored on residential roadways.

The procedural amendments allow for county staff to recommend directly to the Board of Supervisors some regulatory ordinances which are currently reviewed by the Traffic Advisory Committee but often on the TAC’s consent agenda. The streamlined procedure includes an appeal process to the TAC if any dissent or opposition is identified.

The Vine Street parking prohibition would cover the west side of the road from 860 feet north of Clemmens Lane to 1,210 feet north of Clemmens Lane. That area is the site of frequent criminal activity, and the prohibition will give law enforcement officers reasonable cause to approach vehicles frequenting the area. The prohibition was supported by the Fallbrook Sheriff’s Substation and by the Fallbrook Community Planning Group.