The Plan Commission spent an extended portion of its meeting debating how the draft zoning code should treat commercial vehicles parked on residential lots.

Staff proposed distinguishing between standard passenger‑size commercial vehicles (vans, SUVs, pickup trucks) and large commercial equipment (semi tractors, box trucks, flatbeds, buses and construction vehicles). Under the proposal, typical passenger vehicles with business logos would be allowed to park overnight in permitted parking areas on residential lots; large commercial vehicles would be prohibited from outdoor overnight parking.

Commissioners raised enforcement and equity concerns. Several members said outright bans could penalize employees who must keep employer vehicles at home, while others warned that allowing many logoed pickups could turn neighborhoods into de facto company yards. To balance those concerns, the group reached informal agreement to limit stored outdoors commercial vehicles to one per residence in residential districts, to add specific language excluding food-service vehicles modified for cooking, and to further define what constitutes a “passenger-size” commercial vehicle.

Members also discussed practical enforcement limits and encouraged staff to add clarifying language on modified vehicles (for example, food trucks or vans with generators and cooking equipment), news vans with large antennas, ladder racks, and roof-mounted equipment. Commissioners asked staff to consider a mechanism for variances or special permits in hardship cases, and to retain home-occupation standards to prevent full business operations from being run out of a residence.

Staff will update the draft with the one‑vehicle limit for stored commercial vehicles, additional definitions for modified vehicles and passenger‑sized vans, and language allowing variances or special-use review when warranted.

The commission noted enforcement will largely be a code‑enforcement matter and not immediately solved by the zoning text alone.