By Christian Mignot

Los Altos yards will remain no-parking zones for recreational vehicles and trailers until city hall officials change the language in the city’s blight ordinance.

The Los Altos City Council sent a revised blight ordinance back to the drawing board last month, saying the law was still written in a way that prohibited residents from parking their RVs in their yards.

The blight ordinance was proposed to eliminate clutter in the front yards of properties in residential areas and to protect local safety and health standards.

In a bid to restrict the storage of heavy machinery in residential areas, the language of the law had been slightly overbearing and could be construed as applying to RVs or trailer homes.

Worried and infuriated residents demanded that the code be changed so they could continue parking RVs and similar vehicles on their properties. City council agreed to the request, asking City Attorney Marc Hynes to remove all references to RVs in the amendment.

Yet to the council, which reviewed the issue last month, the law still contained ambiguous language that could be interpreted to apply to RVs.

“We understood all references to RVs were going to be removed,” said Jacqueline Rush, local resident and RV owner.

The council motioned for the issue to be returned once more to staff and asked for a return to the pre-ordinance code for all restrictions pertaining to RVs.