Maine state law: RV, boat, and trailer parking on residential property

Maine state law (Title 29-A — Motor Vehicles) does not impose a uniform statewide rule restricting where residents may park personal recreational vehicles, travel trailers, boats on trailers, or utility trailers on private residential property or on the public street adjacent to their home. RVs, motor homes, travel trailers, and boats with trailers must be currently registered under 29-A MRS § 405 (Registration required); failure to register is a traffic infraction. An unregistered, unattended RV or trailer on public property may be removed under 29-A MRS § 2074 and processed as an abandoned vehicle under 29-A MRS § 1854. Snowmobiles and ATVs (often kept on trailers) have separate registration under Title 12. All RV/boat residential-parking limits — maximum number of days an RV may be parked on the street; prohibition of RV/boat storage in front yards; side-yard and rear-yard setback requirements; height of stored vessels; prohibition of overnight occupancy of an RV parked on a residential lot; commercial vs. recreational distinction — are set by individual city or town ordinance under 30-A MRS § 3001 home-rule authority. Within the mandatory Shoreland Zone (38 MRS § 435 et seq., within 250 ft of great ponds, rivers, freshwater wetlands, and tidal waters), the 75-ft setback, impervious-surface, and vegetated-buffer rules of DEP Shoreland Zoning Standards (Chapter 1000) constrain the storage of boats, trailers, and RVs near the water.

State-law violations limited to registration (29-A § 405) traffic infractions ($150 typical fine) and abandoned-vehicle disposition (29-A §§ 1854, 2074). Municipal RV/boat residential-parking ordinance violations are civil offenses enforced by the Code Enforcement Officer with typical $100-$500 fines per day of continued violation. Shoreland Zone violations under DEP Chapter 1000 can carry significant civil penalties.