Facing complaints over the past few years from homeowners about parked construction, storage, and home business commercial vehicles on residential roads, the Plainsboro Township Committee is considering tightening an ordinance to essentially prohibit those vehicles from being kept on the roads and, in some cases, homeowners’ driveways.
During the committee’s July 22 meeting, Les Varga, the township’s Director of Planning and Zoning recommended changes to tighten the language to prohibit commercial vehicles from being “kept” on the street. The prohibition would not only be for commercial trucks associated with home businesses, but also storage units on streets as well.
For example, homeowners would not be permitted to store lumber associated with home projects in units on the streets. “Putting a whole addition’s worth of lumber” is not acceptable on residential roadways, Varga said. The prohibitions would encompass the whole right-of-way, although driveways would be excluded from this section of the ordinance, “the point being to encourage use of the driveways,’ Varga said.
Driveways, however, would not be a place to park a commercial truck or other large vehicle associated with a home office occupation, under the changes being discussed. The regulations would not prohibit homeowners from parking commercial vehicles in the street or driveway for a short period of time like, for example, a lunch break, but those vehicles must be stored in a garage.
“If there is a commercial tag on the vehicle, it must be stored in the garage,” Varga explained.
At least one committee member, however, pointed out that most garages would be too small to store commercial vehicles. “How many trucks are going to fit in the garage?” asked Committeeman Ed Yates. “Even a van is not going to be able to fit in a garage.”
Mayor Peter Cantu explained that Plainsboro had, in the past, been progressive in passing its home office occupation regulations, in which the township designed an ordinance setting criteria for home business owners, but making it easier for them to forego some of the bureaucracy in applying for the status. However, those regulations did not intend for home business owners to park numerous commercial vehicles along the street and in their driveways.
“That is a departure from the normal home occupation criteria,” Cantu said. The new language “is consistent with the original intention of the home occupation ordinance.”
“As long as the vehicle fits in the garage, it’s allowed to be there,” said Committeeman Michael Weaver.
While the committee has not made a decision, language to the ordinance is being drafted and will be brought to the committee for review soon. In order to proceed, the measure would have to come in the form of an ordinance introduction and public hearing before it is adopted.
