Authorities begin citing, removing RV encampments from Pacific Coast Highway

Authorities have begun citing and towing RVs parked alongside Pacific Coast Highway, but people living in the RVs say they’ve never been a problem and were never told they had to leave.

In a post to X , the City of Malibu stated that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department had towed a trailer parked on PCH near Corral Beach on Sept. 12 after “several warnings and outreach attempts.”

Another RV was towed on Sept. 6, the post indicated.

“The City & LASD are enforcing for public safety, beach access for residents and visitors and quality of life in Malibu,” the city said.

KTLA spoke to multiple people living in the RVs who claimed they weren’t given any advance warning that they were being cited and being told to leave or be towed.

“They told us that they were taking a list of people [who would be] issued citations,” one woman said, adding that some residents have been living on PCH “for years” and have never been a problem.

Another woman explained to KTLA 5’s Ellina Abovian that she had fallen onto hard times during the COVID-19 pandemic and that she was just “trying to keep her head above water.”

“These are people’s homes,” she said.  “We’re not drug addicts, we have jobs…this is not funny.”

Others said they were told they were in violation of a parking ordinance but no specific information about the ordinance was disclosed.

CHP officers were seen going from vehicle to vehicle late Monday night, knocking on windows and telling residents they had to leave or be cited.

In total, 15 citations were given out, CHP confirmed.

The area where the RVs are located is in unincorporated Los Angeles County and part of L.A. County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath’s jurisdiction.

Horvath introduced a motion at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting that would allow the California Coastal Commission to extend the “no overnight parking” rule along all of PCH, a spokesperson for her office told KTLA.

The specific section where the citations were given out overnight currently only prohibit parking from midnight to 2 a.m.

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