San Diego residents fed up for years with recreational vehicles, trailers and campers cluttering streets left City Hall encouraged yesterday.

The City Council decided to study the costs of a proposal to ban overnight parking of these vehicles without a permit.

By a 7-0 vote, with Councilman Tony Young absent, council members asked the Mayor’s Office to return in 60 days with a report on how the proposal would work in a pilot area, as well as citywide.

Council President Scott Peters and council members Donna Frye and Kevin Faulconer proposed the ban to be from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. on streets and in parks in certain neighborhoods.

Their proposed pilot area would affect coastal neighborhoods west of Interstate 5 and east of I-5 around Tecolote Canyon in Bay Park. Residents and their guests would have to obtain parking permits good for up to 72 hours. Even with a permit, they would have to park within 150 feet of their address. Each residence would be limited to 24 permits a year.

The costs of the permits, the logistics of how residents would apply for them and how much police manpower would be required to enforce the overnight parking ban are questions that remain unanswered. Another question is how the city would deal with poor people who live in their motor homes and can’t afford to park in campgrounds.

If and when the city adopts the regulations, they would next have to be approved by the California Coastal Commission.

“You are looking at at least another year or more for this to be enacted,” Frye said.

City regulations allow all vehicles to be parked on streets for up to 72 hours. Every three days, owners must move their vehicle at least one-tenth of a mile to avoid a ticket. The 72-hour rule has been difficult to enforce. A parking officer has to visit a vehicle two times at least 72 hours apart before writing a citation.

Police are overwhelmed with complaints from throughout the city.

Residents from Sabre Springs, Tierrasanta and elsewhere spoke in favor of extending the proposed ban to their neighborhoods. Council members whose districts are not covered in the pilot area expressed support as well.A number of RV owners showed up yesterday to oppose the regulations, saying they would hurt their lifestyle and infringe on their rights as taxpaying citizens.

Point Loma resident Arthur Scott said in written comments that the proposed overnight parking ban represents “a blatant attempt to make life miserable if not impossible for anyone who wishes to own and operate an RV in our town.”

Regulating the parking of oversized vehicles has been a topic of discussion at City Hall for at least three years. In 2005, Peters and then-Councilman Michael Zucchet proposed prohibiting RVs from being parked on streets and in parks for more than four hours at a time. That proposal drew significant opposition and was dropped.

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