Janesville, WI Parking Rules: RV & Boat Parking (2026)

Section 42-440(a)(4) permits any owner of camping and recreational equipment, defined to include boats, boat trailers, camping trailers, fifth wheel travel trailers, motor homes, private buses, snowmobiles, travel trailers and truck campers, to park or store that equipment on private residential property, but it can never be occupied or used for living or housekeeping purposes while parked or stored. If the lot has a garage big enough, the equipment must go inside it. Parked outside a garage, it must sit behind the front building line of the house, provided the driveway gives reasonable access to the rear of that line.

If the lot has no garage or no rear driveway access, the equipment can be kept in the driveway itself, as long as it does not block use of the public sidewalk. Equipment cannot sit in the required side yard setback at all unless it is in the driveway. A narrow exception lets equipment be parked anywhere on the property, setback or not, for loading and unloading, but only for up to 48 hours. No lot can host more than two camping and recreational equipment vehicles designed for human habitation at one time.

Motor-driven cycles and mopeds are not counted as recreational equipment under this section, so they fall outside these placement rules entirely. Separately, Section 38-387 bars parking any motor home, camping trailer or similar vehicle on a City-owned public parking lot, so the private-property allowance in Section 42-440(a)(4) does not extend to municipal lots.