TEMPLE TERRACE — Temple Terrace residents who drive work trucks home now have clearer rules about what can, and can’t, be parked in their driveways.
The City Council unanimously approved new commercial vehicle parking regulations at its Aug. 18 meeting, replacing rules officials said were vague, difficult to enforce and sometimes resulted in residents being cited simply for driving home a personal vehicle bearing a company logo.
The new ordinance refreshes the city’s definition of a commercial vehicle and establishes more concrete standards for which trucks, trailers and other work vehicles can be parked in single family and multifamily residential areas.
The changes were developed at a Land Development Code workshop 18 months ago and were approved by the planning commissioner in April before coming to the council.
Code Compliance Director Jack Shanks said the previous rules left too much interpretation to individual code officers.
“I would argue that if you compare them side by side, the current ordinance with the proposed ordinance, the current ordinance leaves a lot of decision making to my officers, whereas this new ordinance is actually stricter on us,” said Code Compliance Director Jack Shanks. “It pinpoints specific things that we should look for and gives more flexibility to the residents for what they can have.”
The new rules categorize vehicles by gross vehicle weight rating, or GVWR, the manufacturers maximum safe operating weight for a vehicle.
Class 1 vehicles, or most passenger cars and light trucks, weigh up to 6,000 pounds; Class 2 vehicles range from 6,001 to 10,000 pounds and covers full-size pickups and vans; Class 3 vehicles or heavier duty trucks range from 10,001 to 14,000 pounds; and Class 4 vehicles exceed 14,000 pounds.
The ordinance prohibits Class 3-or-larger motorized commercial vehicles, with exceptions for certain unmodified Class 3 pickups and cargo vans. It also prohibits trailers that meet the city’s definition of a commercial vehicle; commercial vehicles of any weight fitted with equipment racks, service beds or similar commercial equipment; box trucks, step vans and food trucks; tow trucks, boom trucks and bucket trucks; and heavy equipment designed for farming, earth-moving or construction.
Community Development Director Greg Pauley said the last provision was borrowed from the City of Tampa’s code.
The ordinance has an important exception for residents who drive larger pickups — Ford F250s were the example used — or cargo vans as their everyday vehicles. Up to two unmodified Class 3 pickups or cargo vans can be parked on a residential lot, provided they aren’t fitted with the type of commercial equipment prohibited by the ordinance.
“The key phrase there is unmodified,” Pauley said. “We’re not talking about anything that has been modified with heavy commercial equipment or anything of that nature.”
Business logos or markings alone also will no longer make an otherwise permitted vehicle illegal.
Pauley said the old rules could be interpreted as prohibiting someone from driving home a small personal vehicle that had a company name or logo on the door. The new ordinance, however, focuses more on the vehicle itself than what is written on it.
“They don’t have to call back to the office and say, ‘What do we do in this case,’” Shanks added. “It’s not quite as vague.”
Council members spent considerable time debating one of the most common accessories found on work trucks: an aftermarket toolbox bolted across the bed.
Council member Erik Kravets questioned whether the language prohibiting “service equipment” mounted in an open truck bed could be interpreted to include the cross-bed toolboxes.
Pauley said that a toolbox was never intended to fall under the ordinance’s language, which is aimed at booms, cranes, lifts and service bodies, not accessories to privately owned trucks.
“They would absolutely be allowed,” Pauley said. “There’s nothing in here to prohibit a toolbox, even the ones that extend the full width of the bed that are bolted in.”
The council and Mayor Andy Ross also questioned the decision to limit residents to two unmodified Class 3 vehicles per lot. Ross said the larger pickup trucks were “ubiquitous” in Temple Terrace driveways.
“The two-vehicle cap strikes me as somewhat arbitrary compared with the unlimited number of smaller trucks a household could own,” he added.
Still, Ross did not let any qualms stop him from voting in favor of the ordinance. He said the city has wrestled with commercial vehicle parking questions since he served on the city’s code board 16 years ago, and writing rules that covered every possible type of truck, accessory and situation may be impossible.
“This ordinance is sticky … It’s really hard to get this perfect,” he said. “But I’m in favor of this enthusiastically.”
If the changes need to be tweaked down the road, the council signaled that it would do so. It asked staff to keep a close eye on how the new rules are received by residents and implemented by code enforcement. The mayor said since every possible outcome can’t be anticipated, the city should put the new rules in effect and adjust them when warranted.
“Is this ordinance perfect? Probably not,” Ross said. “It’s hard to tell until you put it into practice and you see what situations come up.”