San Bruno orders homeowners to stop renting out driveway

SAN BRUNO, Calif. (KGO) -- If you've ever parked your car at San Francisco International Airport, you know the fees can often be a pricey venture. So a new website is offering deep discounts by renting a parking space in someone's driveway. Now one Bay Area city is looking to put a stop to the idea.

At SFO the daily parking rate can be anywhere between $15-30. But how does $5 sound? That is the deal some neighbors are offering.

If you're trying to catch a flight, you can't beat Linda Harrington's house in San Bruno. It is less than a mile from SFO. It's one reason why a year ago she started renting her driveway to travelers looking for a place to park.

"The supplemental income is something that's very important to me. I don't think that it infringes upon anybody, certainly not my neighbors," Harrington said.

Harrington started advertising part of her driveway on the deal site Way.com, for as low as about $5.49 per day. A free ride to the airport by car service Lyft is included.

There were lots of takers until the city slapped Harrington with a violation and stiff fines if she didn't stop her driveway rental, which the city called an illegal business.

"Garage sales are perfect example of a violation of doing business in your driveway, but they're not going after them," Harrington said.

San Bruno city attorney Marc Zafferano told ABC7 News it's not the same thing. He said, "The city ordinances consider parking a car in the driveway for compensation to be a commercial use of the property."

"It's a car in my driveway. I'm not blocking anybody, I'm not disturbing anybody," Harrington said.

Way.com founder Patrick Murray is looking for solutions. He told ABC7 News, "We're fully committed to working with San Bruno. We want to figure out a way that these sellers can keep selling their driveway space."

Twenty-five driveway renters have been sent violations. So far, 14 have agreed to stop.