BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer
HOWELL — Members of the Township Council recently discussed the possibility of adopting restrictions regarding the on-street parking of commercial vehicles on residential streets.
Township Manager Bruce Davis said municipal officials need to examine the ordinance in order to make it more restrictive regarding commercial vehicle parking. He said the parking of commercial vehicles has been an ongoing problem and has led to many complaints from residents over the years.
Mayor Joseph M. DiBella agreed with that assessment and said a large number of the complaints centered around problems with the owners of landscaping businesses who park their trucks and trailers on the residential streets where they live.
DiBella said the situation is an aesthetic one as well as a safety issue because in some cases the traffic line of sight is compromised for motorists.
A solution to the issue may not be so easily reached, according to Township Attorney Thomas Gannon. He told the mayor and council that officials in other towns have tried to deal with the same situation and found it problematic.
According to Gannon, the problem stems from defining what constitutes one commercial vehicle when many commercial vehicles are tractor-trailers hitched together.
Councilman Wayne Lucey is a private contractor who said he had to construct a side driveway at his home in order to park his business vehicles.
Lucey observed that a quick unhooking of one trailer from another could change a non-complying vehicle into one that was no longer in violation of the law as the gross weight would be cut in half when the hitched trailer was detached from the truck and cab.
Observing that his rural residence on Newtons Corner Road allowed him the room to add a driveway that could accommodate his business vehicles, Lucey said there were likely many self-employed contractors of different trades in Howell who may not have the lot size available to them if they live in a housing development.
Lucey said he believed the purpose of the ordinance was to discourage unsightly vehicles from being parked in front of residences.
In addition to being unsightly and posing a possible safety hazard for motorists, Davis said the situation is compounded during the winter when snow plowing is factored into the equation.
Gannon said an ordinance will have to be carefully crafted.
“We have to look at the problem truck. Is it a tractor-trailer or a pickup?” the attorney asked.
Gannon said he would put together an ordinance for the mayor and council to review. He said it would be crafted with careful language needed to specify what trucks would or would not be allowed to be parked on the street.