Mission Viejo, CA Parking Rules: RV & Boat Parking (2026)

Sec. 110(h)(2) designates as a nuisance recreational vehicles parked or stored in the front yard area, or any other location on the property where the recreational vehicles are visible from the neighboring property or any street, and the rule reaches the vehicle even if it is used primarily for some purpose other than recreation. An unregistered or unlicensed recreational vehicle is automatically treated as stored regardless of where it sits. The ordinance's definition of recreational vehicle is broad: a vehicle, boat, vessel or other type of portable structure, with or without a mode of power, and without permanent foundation, which can be towed, hauled, sailed or driven, expressly listing travel trailers, motor homes, converted buses, campers, camping trailers, motorcycles, off-road vehicles, aircraft, boats and other vessels.

Front yard area is defined as the space between the plane of the home's front elevation and the front property line along the street, including the driveway. The chapter's exceptions in Sec. 115 give owners several lawful options. Subsection (e) allows curbside or driveway parking while actively loading or unloading, but caps it at 72 hours and specifies the vehicle must not block the sidewalk. Subsection (g) allows full-time storage in a side or rear yard if the owner submits a site plan to the director of community development showing the vehicle screened from the street and neighboring properties behind a solid six-foot fence, gate or wall with adequate landscaping, and requires any boat with a mast to keep it lowered to horizontal if visible; letting the required fencing or landscaping fall into disrepair revokes the site plan approval.

Subsection (h) lets an owner apply to build a fully enclosed addition to the home to house an RV, subject to commission approval, provided it doesn't require a zoning variance and keeps the vehicle out of view.