There’s a guy on my block who parks his wide, commercial truck on the street in front of his house. (I’m guessing his name is “Les” as the slogan on the truck says, “You Pay Les.” Cute.) It’s always there. I have to veer to the other side of the street to pass it, kids playing down the street are at risk because of reduced visibility, etc. Mainly it just annoys me. It’s probably a state by state - or even city-by-city - thing, but what department would I call to see if there is a law about the legality of parking a wide commercial vehicle in a residential neighborhood?
It’s probably a planning or zoning thing. Or code enforcement, which may be a part of planning or zoning.
The local police nonemergency number is where I’d start. That’s what they’re there for.
Try checking the city listings for Code Enforcement. They can tell you pretty quickly what is and isn’t allowed. We had a neighbor who drove a liquid CO[sub]2[/sub] truck of the sort that kept the tank pressure down by LOUDLY venting CO[sub]2[/sub] at irregular intervals. Think of an extremely large elephant farting. After numerous complaints and a few law enforcement visits, the guy finally stopped driving it home every night. It wasn’t the size of the truck in this case, but noise ordinances that he was cited on.
Good luck.
There’s no Federal law on that. It’s normally handled by city ordinances.
I second this. Even if the cops don’t know, they ought to be able to point you towards whoever would. Just be sure to call the non-emergency number.
I’d start with the code-enforcement people. Those guys will definitely know what the deal is, and if its a severe violation, can come down like a ton of bricks.
If it’s on private property, it’ll probably be covered by zoning. Regularly parking a commercial vehicle on a residential zoned property will usually be considered an illegal commercial use of the site. (Most zoning codes have provisions for home businesses, but only under certain conditions, one of which is usually that there is no visible evidence of the business.) In cases where there’s a very fine line, like a Ford F350 with a crew cab and duallies, it may come down to just having a sign on the truck; remove the sign, and the violation is resolved. If it’s a commercial vehicle that cannot reasonably be considered a “daily driver,” like a dump truck, tow truck or tractor trailer rig, it’ll usually be a violation. If you live in a more blue collar community, expect less enforcement in this area.
On the street, the same rules may apply. Land use regulations usually extend into the public righto-of-way, but there will almost always be local ordinances that will prohibit the long-term parking of commercial vehicles on the street. even in commercial and industrial areas.
Where I used to live, the rule was that you could only park vehicles “that would normally be used by a family”. This ruled out delivery trucks and the like.
One fellow insisted on parking a delivery truck in frount of his house that was on a curved part of the street. After five tickets in eight days he got the message!
Huh, you know, I always wondered why a coupe of my neighbors had blank, white, magnetic covers for the logos on the sides of their trucks and vans when they were at home. Now I know.