RVs parked on South Rodeo Gulch Road near Soquel on Oct. 9. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)
SANTA CRUZ >> The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday advanced updates to a county ordinance that would allow abandoned or inoperable vehicles to be scrapped as soon as they are towed.
The change could make it easier for law enforcement to deal with vehicles illegally parked on streets in unincorporated county areas and is expected to affect homeless people who live in their vehicles.
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office has said tow companies are unwilling to remove large RVs because they must store them for at least 15 days before they can be demolished. Many tow yards lack space to store large RVs for that long, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Under the updated ordinance, vehicles could be towed directly to demolition services after receiving a 10 days’ notice.
“There’s no requirement for outreach with people experiencing homelessness. It does not distinguish between RVs and cars,” Cummings said. “For that reason, I cannot support it.”
Cummings said he supports removing RVs from the street after 10 days’ notice, but opposes the ordinance’s broad language that also includes cars, which he says are already regulated and not the focus of the update.
The rules were adopted 4-1 with Supervisor Justin Cummings voting no.
Supervisor Monica Martinez voted in favor of the new rules but said the approach would not, by itself, address the issue of homelessness.
“We aren’t fooling ourselves to believe that by towing their vehicles, we’re fixing a problem,” she said.
County staff estimate that about five to six vehicles per year would be affected by the rule change and it would cost roughly $1,500 to tow and demolish each vehicle.
Homeless services and outreach
Several residents who spoke during public comment raised concerns that the ordinance could worsen homelessness.
To help those who might be affected by the changes, the ordinance advises county staff to engage residents that live in their vehicles and connect them with housing services. The cities of Watsonville and Santa Cruz run safe parking programs, and county staff are expected to coordinate with those cities to bolster the programs.
Cummings said he opposed that plan because it focused more county resources on the two cities instead of unincorporated areas where fewer options exist for homeless people.
Supervisors also directed county staff to explore the possibility of a safe parking site on county land for people who live in their vehicles, but the county executive office did not recommend such a program.
Lt. Nick Baldrige said RV owners often know that tow companies are unwilling to remove their vehicles, which leads to ongoing parking violations.
“The intent isn’t to do a massive sweep and get every RV off [the streets],” Baldrige said. “The bigger issue is those RVs that are stagnant for long periods of time — in the same place for weeks, if not months.”
Baldrige said the change is intended to encourage RV owners to move their vehicles, not to take their RVs away. A vehicle is deemed illegally parked if it’s been left in the same place for more than 72 hours.
RVs parked on South Rodeo Gulch Road near Soquel on Oct. 9. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)
Supervisor Kim De Serpa said the rules aimed to address “nuisance vehicles,” not to harm people living in their cars.
“In my district, down at Rio Del Mar, we often have campers that are parked along the Soquel Creek, and it is a big problem in that area,” she said.
Martinez said she has also heard complaints from her constituents about large abandoned vehicles, and that the changes aim to balance housed residents’ concerns with support for unhoused residents.
“I know that our board is trying to strike a balance,” she said. “I think the proposed ordinance language is getting us closer to achieving our goals, and I feel pretty good about being able to support that today.”
The ordinance is set to return for final adoption on Oct. 21.
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Evan Quarnstrom holds a degree in International Business from San Diego State University. He grew up in midtown Santa Cruz.
