In some Dallas neighborhoods, big commercial vehicles parked in driveways or on the street are very common, even though many are forbidden from parking there in current city rules.
But city officials say the Dallas rules are outdated and hard to enforce.
“There are a lot of complaints about our inability to enforce our current code because it is very confusing,” Councilman Omar Narvaez said.
The Dallas City Council Quality of Life Committee Tuesday unanimously endorsed an update of those rules.
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Some residents oppose being hassled about commercial vehicles on their private property. Derla Gonzalez said her husband does construction work and parking their vehicles should be allowed. Other homes on her street also have commercial vehicles in their driveways.
“It's our property, we should have whatever we want in the yard,” she said. “I don’t know what they want us to do, to pay for storage? Even though we pay taxes and everything.”
In another neighborhood, resident Edgar Roberson III was working hard to collect leaves from the curb in front of his and other properties. He said the city should enforce commercial vehicle restrictions.
“I think they should do it to the point that it keeps the neighborhood in good quality,” Roberson said.
In other driveways on his street Tuesday there was a church van, a boat on a trailer covered with a tarp and a work trailer, all of which could be OK in Dallas rules as long as they’re under certain weight and size limits and can not be parked in backyards.
CITY OF DALLAS
A big blue over-the-road tractor truck parked on the street in front of a neighbor’s home is probably not acceptable for overnight parking, but Dallas street parking rules are also in question.
“Our hands are tied in many cases and the residents are just pretty fed up with it,” Committee Chairman Adam Bazaldua said.
As common passenger vehicle sizes grew over the years, many now exceed the current Dallas limits in residential neighborhoods.
Jeremy Reed, the Code Enforcement Assistant Director pursuing the update of commercial vehicle rules, said Dallas is modeling the rewrite after Fort Worth regulations.
“The proposal here is to actually have a definition of oversize vehicle and then place the section with the code that says here's what we are not allowing in the fronts of residences,” Reed said.
Derla Gonzalez said the push to restrict commercial vehicles is unfair and City Hall should focus on more important problems.
“There’s a lot of crime and we call them and they don’t come,” she said.
The renewed restrictions on commercial vehicle parking on private property will received public hearings and review by the Dallas Plan Commission before a future City Council vote.
New street parking regulations could be put in place much faster.
“You can write the rules clearly, so people won’t be asking 20 questions about it,” Roberson said.
Until that is done, the trucks probably won’t face much code enforcement hassle.
