Ban on Commercial Vehicles in Neighborhoods Becomes Law—in April

A ban on parking certain types of commercial and other vehicles in Chesterfield neighborhoods will become law in the city — but not until April 1, giving vehicle owners a chance to make other arrangements.

That's the decision of the Chesterfield City Council this week, which approved the measure by a 7-1 vote, with only council member Derek Grier opposing it.

"It's been a topic that's been a difficult thing to address," Mayor Bob Nation said. "There were some complaints in one or more of the subdivisions about people parking these vehicles they thought were unsightly and that they didn't believe belonged in those areas. That's kind of what sparked this."

At the suggestion of council member Bruce DeGroot, the council amended the measure to delay the enforcement of the ban until April 1.

"His intent was to allow some of those who may own some of these vehicles to determine what they're doing to do with them," Nation said.

The measure sparked a lot of discussion among readers on Patch over the past couple of weeks, with comments divided among those who favor eliminating "unsightly" vehicles from neighborhoods and those who said it would impose a hardship on people who are just trying to earn a living.

Nation said about seven people spoke at the council meeting on Monday, most in support of the ban. A few vehicle owners were there to object.

The ordinance lays out of variety of types of vehicles that would be affected, including:

• Construction vehicles and equipment including, but not limited to, tractors, backhoes, blades, buckets, bulldozers, compactors, crane scrappers, excavators, and front-end loaders.
• Vehicles designed or modified to serve a special purpose including, but not limited to, tow trucks, dump trucks, stake bed trucks, flat-bed trucks, step vans, refuse or garbage trucks, buses, fire engines, ambulances, and ice cream trucks.
• Vehicles designed or modified for advertising or business identification purposes, not including stock motor vehicles with business name, logo, or advertisements painted or otherwise affixed when operated by an occupant of the dwelling where they are parked.