SLO County supervisors set rules for free overnight RV parking: ‘A win for everyone’
San Luis Obispo County now has rules to regulate free recreational vehicle camping on private property.
On Feb. 7, the county Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to set specific guidelines for property owners offering free overnight RV parking to visitors via the Harvest Host RV Program, a national booking service.
By following those rules, SLO County residents can avoid violating the rural camping ordinance and risking fines.
San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg cast the lone vote against the ordinance.
She only wanted the county to allow visitors to stay one night per week at each property, she said, in order to protect establishments that pay transient occupancy tax, also known as bed tax.
“I really feel like we’ve got to keep it tight,” Ortiz-Legg said.
What is Harvest Host?
In rural areas such as Creston and Paso Robles, some property owners provide space on their land for what Harvest Host called “self-contained RVs.”
The hosts, who often own wineries, ranches or farms, aren’t required to offer hookups for water, sewage or electricity, according to the program’s website.
“It supports small businesses,” Serena Friedman, co-owner of Four Sisters Ranch in Paso Robles, said at the Feb. 7 board meeting. “The goal of the county is to promote agritourism and economic prosperity, as well as preservation of rural and agricultural lifestyle, as well as job creation — benefiting the tax base of the county. So this is actually a win for everyone.”
The use of Harvest Host, however, caused friction with the county, resulting in some residents receiving citations for allowing people to park overnight on their property through the program.
The county issued 42 notices of violation for “unpermitted camping” or “occupied RVs” between Jan. 1, 2022, and Feb. 7 — though not all citations were related to Harvest Host, according to San Luis Obispo County Planning Manager Airlin Singewald.
Friedman was charged with one of those violations, she said.
On Feb. 7, Friedman asked the board to rescind all previous violations issued to property owners who used Harvest Host.
“It puts a shadow on my property and it affects, essentially, my reputation and the property value when no violation actually occurred,” Friedman said.
San Luis Obispo County Counsel Rita Neal, however, said that property owners will have to “work directly with code enforcement” to resolve their violations.
What are new RV parking rules?
Property owners can allow overnight RV parking on their land if they follow a series of rules added to the rural camping ordinance.
RV’s must be “self-contained,” meaning they don’t require hookups to water, electricity or sewer, the staff report said.
Under the new county guidelines, visitors can only stay at the same property one night at a time. They can return to stay at that property during the same week, as long as the stays aren’t consecutive, the board decided at the Feb. 7 meeting.
“You don’t want it to turn into week-long stays,” San Luis Obispo County Supervisor John Peschong said, adding that he supports visitors returning to the same property.
Overnight parking must be free, and located in a permitted parking lot on land zoned for agriculture, according to the staff report. This doesn’t prevent visitors from tipping their hosts or buying the host’s products, Singewald said.
RV parking must also accompany a “permitted visitor-serving use” that is related to agriculture, such as a winery, a tasting room or a farm stand, according to Singewald.
“The purpose and intent of the Harvest Host program is you have guests stay overnight in their RVs, and that’s an opportunity for these businesses to market their products and potentially sell their products,” Singewald said at the meeting.
The amount of RVs allowed on a property is decided by the size of its parking lot, according to the staff report. If a parking lot contains three to 10 spaces, a maximum of three RVs can camp there per night.
Establishments that are required by county code to have 11 or more parking spaces, such as a 2,200 square-foot wine tasting room, can use up to 30% of their parking spaces for overnight RV parking — with a limit of five spaces per venue, the staff report said.
For example, a venue with 15 parking spaces could host up to five RVs per night, Singewald said at the meeting.
The goal of these rules is that “RV camping is not a primary land use, but instead a permitted visitor-serving use,” the staff report said.
Folks who want to participate in Harvest Host won’t have to register with the county, Singewald said.
“It’s a positive thing for agritourism,” SLO County Farm Bureau Executive Director Brent Burchett said, speaking about Harvest Host at the Feb. 7 meeting. “We believe this is a good opportunity to let rural property owners bring in some revenue.”
This story was originally published February 8, 2023 at 9:00 AM.
