Landscape trucks parked in RSF Village
frustrating to some, but not illegal, authorities say

By Matt Liebowitz

A truck that some business owners say has been parking for days at a time in the Rancho Santa Fe Village is frustrating some local businesses, but not breaking any rules, according to authorities.
A white pickup truck with the logo for Sunrise Landscape and Tree Services on its side has been parking in various spots around the Village this summer. The truck will stay in a spot for just short of 72 hours—the amount of time a car can be legally parked before being towed—and then move to another spot, where it will again remain for nearly three days.
This practice is upsetting local business owners, including Bertrand Hug, owner of Mille Fleurs restaurant.
“He’s [upsetting] everyone because we don’t have parking here,” said Hug, who reported seeing the local company’s truck parked around the Village for the past few years, but most often during the summers. “Everyone’s upset that he’s doing this, everybody’s aware.”
Hug left a note on the car about a year ago that read “parking is precious,” and that the parked truck was “irritating and taking revenue away” from businesses.
“It’s very frustrating,” said Hug. “He knows how to play his cards right.”
Hug said he has not spoken to the landscape company or to California Highway Patrol, but he said he spoke to the Rancho Santa Fe Patrol to see if he and other businesses have any recourse against the truck and its company. Hug ran into a dead end because although the truck may be bothersome to him, it’s not breaking any rules, said RSF Patrol Chief Matt Wellhouser.
Wellhouser explained that once a car is parked in a spot longer than 72 hours, it can be towed, but that the Sunrise Landscape truck is moved just short of its allotted time span.
“I think he knows the law by now, so he knows he can leave it for three days,” Wellhouser said.
“It’s upsetting a lot of people in the village because we have limited parking,” Wellhouser added, “but as long as he’s moving his car, there’s nothing we can do.”
Wellhouser said he believes the truck is left in high visibility spots throughout the Village as a way of advertising the company’s services.
Eric Newbury, public information officer for CHP-Oceanside, agreed that while the parked truck may be bothersome, it is doing nothing illegal.
“If he’s moving his vehicle, he’s doing what he’s supposed to, that’s all the law requires,” said Newbury. “He’s not breaking any laws.”
Newbury said vehicles that are approaching their 72-hour limit are issued CHP 422 warnings—orange tags left on the windshield—informing the owner that they have to move the vehicle or it will be towed.
The parked truck in RSF is not an isolated incident.
“We get complaints all over North County,” said Newbury. “We’re sensitive to these complaints, but there’s really nothing we can do.”
Joseph Burtech is an administrative officer for Sunrise Landscape and Tree Services. He is sympathetic to people’s concern, but insists that if a company vehicle is left overnight, it is for the crew’s convenience, not for advertising.
He also explained that Sunrise operates 12 trucks, all with similar detailing, so it is possible people are seeing different trucks.
“Sometimes people don’t realize that the truck was moved, because all our vehicles are identical,” said Burtech. “We do a lot of jobs in the Ranch, we have a lot of customers there.”
To the best of Burtech’s knowledge, he said no Sunrise truck has ever received a ticket or been towed.
Burtech said Sunrise welcomes complaints. Every truck has the company’s phone number on its side. “We’re the easiest people to call up,” he said.
No business owners in the Village have called Sunrise to complain about parking, Burtech said.