Bloomington, MN Parking Rules: RV & Boat Parking (2026)

Bloomington sorts recreational vehicles into two classes. Class I is under 20 feet long and under six feet high. Class II is 20 feet or more in length or six feet or more in height. The definition reaches motorhomes and campers, boat and snowmobile trailers, slide-in truck campers, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, watercraft and hobby vehicles, and a boat or machine sitting on a utility trailer counts as one vehicle together with the trailer.

In every district an RV must not be used for living, sleeping or housekeeping, must not be used for storage or commercial purposes, must carry a current license and registration, and must be operable with no visible external disrepair. Protective covers must be earth tone. On a public street the code sets a 12-hour ceiling in any 24-hour period and ties it to the street's own parking rules and Police Department approval, and an RV can never sit on the boulevard. Major mechanical repair must happen inside a completely enclosed building.

In the R-1A, R-1 and RS-1 single-family districts, outside a building a lot holds two Class I vehicles, or one Class I with one Class II or Type II vehicle. Trailer counts come from § 21.301.20(c)(4). An RV cannot overhang the right-of-way or sit within 10 feet of a public sidewalk, and the storage spot must preserve legal off-street parking for two other vehicles, plus a nine-foot-wide driveway strip when there is a garage.

Rear yards: Class I vehicles need five feet from a rear lot line, or 30 feet when that line abuts a street. Class II vehicles need 30 feet, with five feet allowed between two garages on abutting sites. Side yards not abutting a street need five feet. Front yards and street-side yards need five feet from any property line, ten feet from any sidewalk and 20 feet from the back of the curb. An RV extending more than eight feet in front of the dwelling wall plane facing a street is capped at 12 feet high and 25 feet long including trailers, must sit on a driveway or off-drive parking area, and faces seasonal bans: summer RVs from November through March, winter RVs from May through October.

Screening by fence or evergreen planting is required where more than 50 percent of the RV's length can be seen from a dwelling on an abutting lot. Multiple-family districts require hard surfaces and screening. All other districts allow 48 hours outdoors.