For Antonetta Fioretti and her neighbors, life on G Street Southeast has been sweet.
Until, that is, the first commercial truck parked about three weeks ago on the quiet residential street, to be followed shortly thereafter by two of its monster cousins.
Much to the dismay of homeowners, some of whom had lived peaceably there for more than 50 years.
Residents fumed that the trucks were laying some serious ugly on one of Auburn’s finer downtown streets. Plus, they said, the rigs posed a safety hazard, particularly to the generous sprinkling of older folk who couldn’t always see around them.
“The way they parked showed they didn’t care about you driving out of your driveway,” Fioretti said. “Plus, on this street the neighbors check on each other — they couldn’t see what was going on.”
Fioretti’s neighbor, Carolyn Erickson, recalled her first encounter with one of the truck owners.
“I said, ‘You’re not going to park that on our street, are you?’ He said, ‘I sure am.’ I said, ‘You can’t do that, this is a residential neighborhood. You can’t park a commercial truck there.’ He said, ‘It’s no longer a commercial truck. It’s a private truck, because I bought it from them, and it’s my truck.'”
Turns out, police couldn’t ticket the truck owners because they weren’t doing anything wrong. Rules on the book respecting the parking of commercial and large vehicles forbid parking any with a gross vehicle weight of 16,000 pounds or more on any street, alley or public right of way, while exempting certain streets.
None of the trucks on G Street fell within the purview of the existing rules.
Thoroughly frustrated by now, Fioretti approached City Councilman Bill Peloza, who suggested residents take their complaints to the Auburn City Council.
“Here they’ve been in this community 40 years, living in that area,” Peloza said of the homeowners, “and now all a sudden they got huge trucks sitting out in front of them. It’s an eyesore.”
Peloza on Feb. 28 sicced his Municipal Services Subcommittee on the problem. City Attorney Dan Heid and Planning Director Kevin Snyder went off to write new rules that would allow the City to ticket those large trucks.
On Feb. 5, the City Council added new language to the City Code forbidding trucks of a certain weight, with certain exceptions, from parking in all residential zoning districts, as follows:
• No person can park any vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or more along any street, alley, or public right of way in a residential zoning district.
• The restrictions don’t apply to pick-up trucks falling within the Class 3 truck classification with a gross vehicle weight rating 14,000 pounds or under.
• The new regulations carve out an exception for large recreational vehicles.
• The new rules don’t apply to parking on or along principal arterial or minor arterials, which is covered elsewhere in the City Code.
• The penalty for violations is $250.
The new law becomes effective March 17.
Residents who showed up to the Council meeting were beaming.
“He’s done a real good job, and a fast job,” Fioretti said of Peloza.
“There’s so many areas in Auburn that aren’t looking too good these days, and when we do have a street that looks good, we want to keep it that way,” Erickson said.
