ALLENTOWN – The Borough Council has adopted an ordinance that bans trucks that weigh more than 4 tons from certain streets in Allentown.
The ordinance was introduced on July 9 and adopted during the council’s Aug. 20 meeting at Borough Hall.
Council President Thomas Fritts, Councilwoman Angela Anthony, Councilman Robert Strovinsky, Councilman Michael Drennan, Councilman John A. Elder III and Councilman Rob Schmitt voted “yes” on a motion to adopt the ordinance.
Several years ago, council members adopted an ordinance that sought to ban trucks from the Monmouth County roads that run through Allentown.
In the intervening years, council members and Mayor Greg Westfall have said county officials, as well as municipal officials in neighboring Upper Freehold Township and Robbinsville, failed to support Allentown’s efforts to address the significant number of trucks that pass through town every day, but make few, if any, stops in the community.
Allentown officials have said an Amazon facility on Old York Road (Route 539) in Robbinsville, just beyond the borough’s border, is the source of much of the truck traffic.
Council members have now adopted an ordinance that deals with roads that are under Allentown’s jurisdiction.
The ordinance states that “trucks over 4 tons gross vehicle weight are hereby excluded from Johnson Drive, Broad Street, Hamilton Street, Mechanic Street, Wilbur Drive, Pearl Street and Lakeview Drive except … for the purpose of the pick-up and delivery of materials and en route to parking. … Agricultural/farm vehicles shall be exempt from (these) provisions.”
Anyone who violates the ordinance will be subject to a civil penalty that will not exceed $100 for a first violation, $500 for a second violation within any three-year period, and $1,000 for each additional violation within any three-year period.
“We still support a truck ban on the county roads (in town) and we will revisit that issue, but it’s better not to tilt at windmills and to accomplish something,” Schmitt said of the council’s vote to ban large trucks from roads that are under Allentown’s jurisdiction.
Fritts said distribution centers would be notified about the new ordinance and council members stressed the ordinance is aimed at through traffic and not at trucks that are making deliveries in the borough.