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Council to workshop narrow exception to pickup‑truck driveway parking ban
Summary
Council opened discussion about a decades‑old ordinance banning overnight pickup‑truck parking in driveways and directed staff to schedule a workshop to consider a narrow exception based on gross vehicle weight and axle count.
Mayor Foley told the council that the town’s longstanding ordinance prohibiting overnight parking of pickup trucks in private driveways — part of the town’s land‑development code for more than 25 years — is creating an anomaly after the state limited homeowners associations' power over pickup‑truck parking.
"It's really taxation without representation," the mayor said in a separate part of the meeting when discussing utility surcharges, and later he framed the driveway‑parking item as an aesthetic and policy question about whether the town should maintain the existing prohibition or adopt a narrow exception based on vehicle weight or axle count. He recommended a workshop to gather public input and asked staff to bring model ordinances used elsewhere.
Vice Mayor Atwater said the council should define terms carefully — for example, how to distinguish an SUV from a pickup — to avoid repeated clarification later. Council agreed to place the item on the April meeting agenda with a workshop to follow and to consult sample ordinances focusing on gross vehicle weight and number of axles.
The council did not adopt any ordinance at the meeting; the next step is community outreach and a council workshop to determine whether to propose narrowly tailored language.
