Thursday, November 29, 2007

Truck Parking Law Vote Delayed

By Rosalie Rayburn
Journal Staff Writer
    City councilors voted Wednesday to postpone decisions on a parking ordinance that would affect truckers and a zoning change that could bring commercial development to a residential area.
    Delaying the parking ordinance will give councilors more time to study last-minute changes approved by the city's Planning and Zoning Board.
    Postponing a decision on the zoning change request will give city staff time to amend the city's land use code, said Delma Petrullo, the councilor who proposed delaying both decisions.
    The parking ordinance would prohibit parking big-rig style commercial vehicles on residential property in Rio Rancho. Residential property owners would still be able to park one commercial vehicle on their property providing it is below a set size.
    The Planning and Zoning Board on Tuesday approved changes to the ordinance that increased the maximum permitted weight from 10,000 pounds to 14,000 pounds and increased the permitted length from 20 feet to 22 feet.
    Residents could still park larger commercial vehicles, provided they are enclosed inside a structure that meets all applicable city codes.
    City development services director Rob Anderson distributed copies of the updated ordinance before Wednesday's council meeting.
    Petrullo said that did not give councilors enough time to consider implications of the changes. She proposed delaying a vote until the next City Council meeting on Dec. 12.
    Councilor Marilyn Salzman, who originally proposed the truck ordinance, cast the lone vote against delaying the decision.
    About half a dozen truckers spoke at the meeting against the ordinance. Having to park off their property or build a truck garage would be costly and an intolerable hardship, they said.
    "People who don't like trucks should go buy (homes) in a gated community," said Sherry York, whose husband keeps a truck on their half-acre lot in northern Rio Rancho.
    Councilors later unanimously approved Petrullo's motions to reconsider their vote on a recently approved zoning change request and to postpone a decision on the request until their Feb. 13 meeting.
    The city's land use code requires developers to submit a site plan when they request a zoning change from residential to special use.
    Petrullo and some city officials believe the code should be amended to remove the site plan requirement.
    Site plans give details on how a property will be used, what the traffic, drainage and noise impacts will be and how those will be addressed.
    Developers who requested that type of zone change on a four-acre parcel of land at N.M. 528 and Willow Creek Road, near River's Edge III, did not submit a site plan.
    Despite that, a majority of councilors voted Nov. 14 to approve the zoning change. After the vote, Petrullo decided the council should reconsider its decision. Council procedures allow councilors to propose reconsidering a vote.
    Area residents who oppose the zone change because it could bring commercial development to their neighborhood, said Wednesday they will fight attempts to change the city's land use code.