Costa Mesa, CA Parking Rules: RV & Boat Parking (2026)

Title 20's nuisance chapter defines a 'recreational vehicle' as any travel trailer, camper, motor home or trailer as defined in Vehicle Code Sections 242, 243 and 630, plus any camper shell or boat. Section 20-8(b) makes it unlawful for anyone with charge of real property in the city to keep, store or maintain a vehicle or recreational vehicle on the premises except as Table 20-8(c) allows. For residential zones and residentially-developed property, the table lets an RV, boat or trailer sit completely enclosed inside a building out of public view, or be stored or parked on a paved surface meeting specific screening rules: the surface must sit outside the required street-facing building setback (excluding alleys) and be screened by a permanent, solid, opaque fence or wall at least six feet high, built to the city's zoning standards for fences and walls, with a building allowed to substitute for the fence.

Two exceptions let an owner skip the setback-and-fence requirement entirely: parking on a paved driveway that connects a garage or carport to the street or alley, or, for single-family detached homes, on a paved parking space reachable from the alley. Storage on any unpaved surface is prohibited outright. A footnote to the table excludes buses, tow trucks, dump trucks, flatbed trucks, tractors, tractor-trailers and other commercial vehicles over 25 feet long, 8 feet high or 90 inches wide from the residential storage options altogether, meaning those larger commercial rigs cannot use the driveway or screened-pad exceptions at a home.

The rules sit inside the city's broader property-maintenance nuisance chapter, so a violation is enforced through code enforcement notice and abatement rather than a routine traffic citation.