During the Tuesday, March 22 special meeting that was called together by the Madison City Commissioners, the matter of allowing tractor-trailer trucks to park overnight in sections of the city that had been zoned as residential was discussed.
Beginning the meeting, Scott Koons, the executive director of the North Florida Regional Planning Council, came forward to provide a brief workshop on the issues that are introduced with allowing the tractor-trailer trucks to park overnight in residential areas.
The presentation was informative, as it began with the classification of streets, their functions, classes, design and deterioration.
In his presentation, Koons laid out a brief outline into the incompatibilities of residential neighborhoods and tractor-trailer trucks. Concerns regarding the incompatibilities were the vibration and noise that heavy commercial and industrial vehicles would create in residential areas, causing a nuisance to homeowners and “negatively impacting the quality of life.”
The size of the large vehicles in the small, residential streets was a concern as well. The trucks take up much more space than the zoning accounted for and the weight of the trucks on streets that were never meant to carry the load of such weighty vehicles would rapidly deteriorate the residential roads.
Finally, Koons, in his presentation, voiced that safety was also an issue. By allowing large industrial and commercial vehicles, there would be more traffic; this is an issue especially because children frequently play in and around the streets.
“Safety is a primary concern with the Florida Department of Transportation regarding large trucks in residential neighborhoods where you have concentration of children,” said Koons.
Summing up his presentation, Koons remarked that the parking of commercial and industrial vehicles in excess of one ton would be incompatible with the function and design of local streets and residential neighborhoods.
Koons stated that while it is not unusual for commission boards to, from time to time, amend regulations and ordinances regarding zoning, amending ordinances regarding the parking of tractor-trailers isn’t a factor that arises frequently, as most cities continue to restrict the vehicles from parking in residential areas.
The podium was then open to community input, although the commissioners warned ahead of time that, in order to prevent debate in the room, they would only be listening to the opinions and thoughts of the citizens who came to the podium and would not be answering questions or replying to remarks.
First to the podium was Geraldine Thompkins, who voiced her concerns about the restricting of tractor-trailer parking, saying that the truck in her yard does not block the street in any way and does not create noise while it is parked. “We have more important things to talk about than a truck being parked in my yard,” said Thompkins. “I feel like we are being walked on because there is a truck in our yard [even though] it is not bothering anybody.”
Thompkins was thanked for her input and Pat Lightcap came to the podium.
“My opinion is not needed; let’s leave the law the way it is,” said Lightcap. He further stated that the requirements are not met for amending the law.
According to Lightcap, amending the law would not promote further public health, safety, convenience, appearance prosperity or the general welfare of the community.
“Those are the required elements [for amending a law], you’ve got it written in there as the ‘where-as’,” said Lightcap. “No one has indicated that it has met that criteria for the amendment.”
Lightcap stated other disqualifying factors of amending the ordinance, such as there has been no deep survey and analyses on the exact impact that tractor-trailer parking would have on the roads and the community. “Any amendment should address truck size and weight, type of cargo, limit of air and noise pollution and responsibility for infrastructure damage,” said Lightcap.
Lightcap asked how many truck owners had made requests to get the ordinance changed and how would the amendment affect the growing Madison community.
“The amendment should not proceed,” said Lightcap.
After Lightcap, another citizen voiced concerns that the community was not being entirely involved in the tractor-trailer issue.
The last citizen to speak was Kathy Sale, chairman of the PAZ committee, who came forward to voice her own opinion on the tractor-trailer issue while referencing the story that ran in the March 18 edition of the Madison Enterprise-Recorder regarding golf cart crossings.
“If the city feels that having a sign saying golf cart crossings are permissible would lead to a liability issue, could we not also argue that taking down signs prohibiting commercial trucks from [entering] residential neighborhoods would likewise lead to a liability issue?” asked Sale. “A no-win situation was described as having an accident involving a golf cart. Could we not also argue that having an 80 thousand pound commercial vehicle running over a small child or pedestrian would also be a no-win situation and a liability issue to the city?”
Sale mentioned that a section of land in the industrial park could be set aside for the means of allowing large trucks to park overnight instead of entering residential zones.
“The city is making a big to-do about this,” said Sale. “You are making it hard on everybody.”
At the end of citizen input, the meeting moved towards its end.
During the Tuesday, April 12 City Commission meeting, a decision will be made regarding whether to allow, or not allow industrial and commercial vehicles into residential zones. Mayor Jim Catron assured that on the April 12 meeting, there will be another session of citizen input and all are invited to attend and voice their concerns regarding the issue.