Valley council hears about loud semis in neighborhoods

Spokane Valley resident Marilyn Cline is really tired of waking at 5 or 6 a.m. every day. The problem is not a feisty rooster, it’s the rumbling of semitrucks parked on her residential street.

“It’s not the view of a Peterbilt, it’s being woke up six days a week that bothers me,” Cline told the Spokane Valley City Council on Tuesday. She added that parking big rigs on a residential street is a traffic safety concern, and cited numerous sources on how much diesel emissions pollute.

It’s not the first time the issue of truck parking has been brought before the Spokane Valley City Council. At a meeting in August, the council directed staff to draft two plans that would restrict large vehicle parking on residential streets: one that focuses on commercial trucks and one that focuses on larger vehicles, including RVs, boats and motor homes.

Cline asked the City Council to simply focus on the big rigs.

“They are not the same as recreational vehicles,” she said.

Potential parking restrictions would not prohibit big rigs and other commercial vehicles from parking on private property.

At the August meeting, some City Council members expressed concern that banning semitruck parking on residential streets would create a financial hardship for smaller, local businesses that would have to pay to park the big rigs somewhere else.

Other council members wanted the same rules to apply to any vehicle 22 feet long or longer, no matter what its use.

Two other residents spoke in support of the parking restrictions Tuesday night. No one spoke on behalf of the trucking companies.

Spokane and Liberty Lake already ban commercial trucks from routinely parking on residential streets. A similar ban was turned down in Spokane Valley two years ago, when the parking of commercial trucks with refrigeration units was banned.

After the meeting, Mayor Dean Grafos said a City Council study session has been scheduled for Oct. 7 at 6 p.m., at which point the council will review the draft plans and decide what to do.

Public testimony is encouraged at council meetings prior to Oct. 7.

“We will not take any public input during the study session,” Grafos said.