Thousand Oaks continues to battle over the issue of large vehicle parking on city streets.

Last week the city's Traffic and Transportation Advisory Commission reviewed a new proposed ordinance prepared by the police department, public works department, code compliance, and the city manager and attorney offices. The new laws would affect commercial trucks and recreational vehicles larger than 25 feet long or 6 feet 8 inches wide or 6 feet 10 inches tall. Pickup trucks would be exempt.

The proposed ordinance prohibits parking the large vehicles on public streets unless a temporary permit for up to five days at a time is obtained from the police department. The ordinance won't affect parking of vehicles on private property. Vehicles would be exempt from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. if they are being actively loaded or unloaded or undergoing repair.

Similar ordinances in other cities in and out of California were evaluated for their success.

"We are proposing to pattern our new ordinance to Camarillo," said traffic engineer Jay Spurgin. "They have been fairly successful there in addressing the issue."

After several hours of discussion that included input from the public, the commission voted 4-1 to approve sending the ordinance to the City Council for review. The commission asked that the city attorney's office investigate the possibility of a fine structure for habitual offenders.

Commissioner Rick Lemmo was the lone dissenter, citing the new rules as inadequate.

"I think that this is a great place to start, but it seems like a bit of a penalty for those who are following the rules," Lemmo said. "I would really like to have something that would be a deterrent to the specific problem."

City code currently permits oversized vehicle parking on the street for 72 hours. That law is abused often by a minority of residents who simply move their vehicle a short distance away after it's ticketed by police, said Thousand Oaks Chief of Police Randy Pentis.

Commissioner Tom Gregory asked that the city's standard $45 parking fines be reconsidered for those who repeatedly violate large vehicle parking restrictions.

"These fines are too low," Gregory said. "They're not punitive enough for those chronic people."

For years the city has tried to come up with solutions, modifying its ordinances to try to meet the needs of recreational and commercial vehicle owners and their neighbors who complain of safety hazards and aesthetics. Large vehicles can impair visibility if parked near driveways and intersections, and can be impediments to emergency vehicles, Spurgin said.

Over the past two years the city has received 2,765 complaints from residents about oversized vehicle parking in their neighborhoods. Citations were handed out in response to only 163 of those complaints.

"This has become a top priority for the City Council," Spurgin said. "It has become a major problem."

Most vehicle owners are compliant; the few who refuse to follow the rules have created a problem for everyone, Spurgin said.

"Some don't want to be a very good neighbor; some just don't have a place to put it," Pentis said.

Compounding the problem is that parking spaces in local storage lots are limited or expensive.

Several residents spoke about the dangers of living with large vehicles parked on their streets. Others appealed to the commission to lengthen the amount of time for loading and unloading. Pentis said police receive many calls from motor home owners who are concerned about being ticketed when parking on the street in front of their homes to prepare for a weekend away.

"We look at it in a reasonable way. We understand how long takes to load a motor home. We don't want to punish everyone," Pentis said.

Police enforcement is only done on a complaint basis, said Sgt. Bob Fleming.

"We're not going to go out there randomly and give a citation," Fleming said. "We have to get the call."

Companies that own some of the large vehicles have been contacted but don't have an interest in addressing the problem, Pentis said.

"It's cheaper for them to get the ticket than to find and pay for parking," Pentis said.

The City Council will consider the ordinance on July 14.