MOMENT OF TRUTH: The City of Manteca will release a draft of a new law next week that will change city regulations on parking boats and RVs in residential neighborhoods.

MANTECA — A new city law that will likely relax standards for parking recreational vehicles and boats in residential neighborhoods will get a public airing next week.

A copy of the proposed law will be available at City Hall today, Friday, April 18, or Monday, according to Deputy City Manager John Nowak, who remained tight-lipped this week about the specifics of the new ordinance.

RV owners, who have demanded a change to the city's one-vehicle per home limit, will have a chance to discuss the proposal at a community input meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 23 at City Hall.

The law will then go to the Planning Commission and City Council for review.

A grassroots campaign to loosen the city’s existing RV laws began last summer, after a public hearing on some minor changes to the law sparked intense interest from the city’s motor home-owning population.

The current law prohibits residents from parking more than one RV, boat, trailer or Jet Ski on their property, unless they’re stored in a garage or shed.

At a February meeting led by councilmen John Harris and Steve DeBrum, who were appointed to write the new law, owners complained about the existing restrictions and offered suggestions on how to loosen them.

The draft law will be based on these suggestions, said Harris, who also refused to describe the law before its public release.