Spokane Valley city council members will consider two options next week that would prevent commercial tractor-trailers and potentially even recreational vehicles from parking in residentially zoned parts of the city, says Dean Grafos, Spokane Valley mayor. 

The first option would prohibit any tractor or commercial trailer more than 27 feet long from parking for more than three hours on public streets in residentially-zoned areas. The vehicle length was selected because it is one foot under a standard trailer length for a dual trailer combination under federal regulations. 

The second option would prohibit any vehicle more than 22 feet long from parking for more than three hours on the public rights of way in residentially-zoned areas. This would include commercial and recreational vehicles of all types. 

Grafos says both he and the council want to come to some common ground at the meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 28, and put the proposal forward. He says the resolution probably will be some combination of the two options.

“During the last meeting, we heard from people with the trucking industry,” Grafos says. “And we have had quite a bit of input from people in the community on this.” 

At recent council meetings, community members have voiced concerns about exhaust fumes, being awakened by trucks during pre-morning hours, noise pollution, and inability to see around the trucks, Grafos says. 

The Washington State Trucking Association doesn’t advocate parking tractor trailers on residential streets, he says, citing an email he received from the WSTA, which state that their members don’t condone commercial truck parking in areas of single and multifamily homes. 

“They understand the safety issues. These are huge 40-ton vehicles. I support this industry but not at the expense of our neighborhoods,” he says. “There are problems with safety, with snow plows and line of sight. It’s hard for vehicles to get around them.” 

Grafos, a local business owner, developer/builder, and real estate broker, says parking the large vehicles on residential streets can have an adverse effect on residents trying to sell or rent property.  

“We’re trying to come up with a common sense solution to the problem,” he says.

The cities of Spokane and Liberty Lake already ban commercial trucks from parking in residential neighborhoods. 

It isn’t a new problem for the city of Spokane Valley. 

In 2012, the council passed an ordinance on parking refrigerated semis on residential streets, says Carolbelle Branch, public information officer, after hearing complaints from the community at that time.

In late August, council members introduced the new restrictions banning large trucks from parking on city streets after constituents complained about the noise from vehicles as well as blocked sightlines and lack of access to parking. 

At the Aug. 19, council meeting, Branch says the council requested that Cary Driskell, city attorney, research options on ways to regulate parking on public rights-of-way in residentially-zoned areas. 

Based on that discussion, four options were drafted for discussion purposes, and on Oct. 7, the council and Grafos says the council narrowed it down to the two options currently under consideration.