Commercial Parking Proposal in Chesterfield Gets Readers Riled Up

A plan to ban most commercial vehicles from parking in residential neighborhoods in the city has generated a lot of buzz on Patch over the past week, with less than a week to go before the city council gives final consideration to the proposal.

The proposed law would restrict which commercial vehicles can park in residential areas of the city. The council gave an initial nod to the plan by a 6-1 vote.

It would make it illegal to openly park commercial vehicles in residential neighborhoods from midnight to 6 a.m. — vehicles such as certain vans, vehicles modified to accommodate advertising, flat-bed trucks, ice cream trucks, landscaping vehicles and several others.

The report said council members will hold a final vote on Sept. 9. Here's what some readers said on Patch and our Facebook page:

"Hits as close to home as it gets," wrote Lauren Murphy. "My husband drives a service van. He has no choice in the matter. I'd love nothing more than to tell these jerks at city hall that my husband's job requires him to have this van and that our tax dollars pay for their salary. However, we don't matter anymore. As long as they can build more stores and reap tax money from them, us citizens don't matter."

"If you can afford to go into business and a vehicle is an asset you need, then you should be able to afford to garage it," wrote Carold Kron. "I am all for the law. Trucks on the street and in driveways are an eyesore."

"Why didn't the City of Chesterfield, when I was living in Chesterfield, do/think anything like this when my family always had to deal with someone always bringing their commercial service truck home and ALWAYS parking it right in front of our driveway?" wrote leearothman.

"I don't particularly care for commercial vehicles parked in subdivisions, but if you're going to change the current law, you need to strongly consider grandfathering current residents," wrote Nancy. "You're going to lose some of your residential tax base and you would deserve to. Why not leave it up to the (homeowners associations)?"

What do you think? Comment below.