By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

A proposed ordinance that would prohibit parking of tractor-trailer rigs in residential neighborhoods is back before Fayetteville City Council with only minor changes from what the Planning Commission had recommended earlier.

City Council had sent the ordinance back to the Planning Commission to get the planners' recommendation for a series of regulations for trucks that are currently being parked at residents' homes and will be allowed to continue under a “grandfather” clause.

But after considering rules that would prohibit parking the truck cabs in the street and require that they be parked at the side or rear of homes, not in the front, plus other rules, the Planning Commission decided to recommend leaving well enough alone.

“You're talking about putting another driveway in,” said Kevin Adams, owner/operator of a tractor-trailer rig who is currently parking his cab at home.

Adams, who has attended every meeting as the Planning Commission and City Council discussed the matter over the last three months, told the Planning Commission last week that adding too many regulations to the “grandfathered” situations would defeat the purpose of the grandfather clause.

“I would just as soon go back to our original recommendation,” said Planning Commission member Segis Lipscomb. “I think the ordinance we've come up with is a fair one.”

The proposed law would prohibit any future truck owners from parking their rigs at home, but would allow those currently doing so to continue if they get a permit.

Planning commissioners said the only change they could recommend would be adding a prohibition against doing any “heavy maintenance” on the rigs at home, and a rule prohibiting parking them on front lawns.

City Council had the ordinance on its agenda Monday, but voted to delay its vote until the next council meeting Nov. 15. The group's usual policy is to hold off on voting on items the same week it gets a recommendation from the Planning Commission.