Tempe, AZ Parking Rules: RV & Boat Parking (2026)

Section 19-139 of Article XI, Chapter 19 (Movement and Traffic) of the general code, targets recreational vehicles, trailers and boats left on public streets overnight. , with a narrow 48-hour exception for actively loading, unloading or cleaning the vehicle. The code defines recreational vehicle as any motor vehicle designed or customarily used for sleeping and trailer as any wheeled platform or frame designed or customarily used to carry property and towed by a motor vehicle, so the ban reaches everything from a Class A motorhome to a small utility trailer or boat on a hitch.

An owner can avoid the ban entirely by getting a parking permit from the Police Chief or a designee, but only on proof the vehicle is registered at an address outside Tempe and with the written consent of the owner or occupant of the adjacent property where it will sit; that permit is good for just seven consecutive days per calendar year, per vehicle, at the one location named in the permit. Subsection (d) adds a separate, unconditional rule that applies with or without a permit: no recreational vehicle, boat or trailer parked on a street may ever be occupied as a dwelling unit. The Police Chief can issue further administrative directives to implement the section, which was adopted by Ordinance No. 04 in early 1992.