County to truckers in Acreage: You have until July 1 to find new spots to park big rigs
Owners of large tractor-trailers in The Acreage have until July 1 to look for a new place to park their vehicles.
An ordinance adopted Thursday, Feb. 22, on final reading by the Palm Beach County Commission limits the weight of trucks to 16,000 pounds, an increase from the current limit of 12,500 pounds but still well under the 80,000 pounds of fully loaded tractor trailers. Even an unloaded trailer weighs more than 30,000 pounds.
Commissioner Mack Bernard called for the July 1 date to give a lawyer for two truckers time to file a lawsuit to challenge the ordinance. He noted that there has been considerable debate about whether the county can force truckers already there to leave. The lawsuit, should it be filed, will answer that question, he explained.
Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the new changes but Commissioner Sara Baxter received support from her colleagues to instruct county planners to determine whether something could be done to allow the truckers already there to stay. The proposals are expected to be before the commission some time in May.
Baxter had pushed for a special exception for The Acreage that would have allowed two 80,000-pound trucks on each lot. But once that failed, she called on staff to see if there was a way to grandfather the existing truckers. Commissioner Maria Marino said she would not support any change to the ordinance that would raise the weight limit above 16,000 pounds. And in a statement emailed to The Palm Beach Post, Commissioner Gregg Weiss said the trucks do not belong in residential areas.
County staff says the truckers were never allowed to park their semis in The Acreage but some of the truckers say they have been there for decades.
The backstory: Truckers vs. Acreage residents has been percolating
For more than a year, the issue has been hotly debated with truckers staging demonstrations outside the county administration building in West Palm Beach and filling the meeting room during public sessions demanding that they be allowed to stay. Their livelihood is at stake, they argued.
"We are asking you to allow us to work from our homes to feed our families," said one trucker Feb. 22. But residents — as well as the Indian Trail Improvement District (ITID) and the Acreage Landowners Association — strongly opposed any ordinance that would have allowed the big rigs to be parked in The Acreage.
ITID Executive Director Burgess Hanson testified that the 436-mile unpaved road network in The Acreage would have to be paved. The cost would range between $1.4 billion to $2.4 billion, and that cost would have to be paid by ITID taxpayers. Roads would have to be elevated by as much as a foot and they would have to be made wider as well, he explained.
"It is wrong to assess this type of financial burden on all taxpayers that only benefit a small group," Hanson told county commissioners, noting the unpaved roads were never built to accommodate the large rigs.
The issue has become so contentious that Burgess and Board of Supervisors President Elizabeth Accomando both claim they were verbally accosted by truckers at public hearings for opposing the higher weight limits. Attendees at public meetings have been escorted out of the sessions by sheriff's deputies for being disruptive. Testimony Feb. 22 for and against the ordinance went on for several hours — and Mayor Maria Sachs warned that sheriff's deputies would escort anyone from the meeting who was disruptive.
County decision could face a legal challenge
West Palm Beach lawyer Christopher Mills, representing two truckers, warned the county that he would challenge the ordinance if it was adopted. He claims it illegally targets semi-tractor trailers and intrudes in an area that is under the control of the Florida Department of Transportation.
The county was looking at a lawsuit no matter what it did. A lawyer for the ITID said the agency was prepared to file a lawsuit if the semis were permitted to operate in the Acreage. For many residents, the presence of the large trucks, they say, is destroying their quality of life.
MORE: Could one word in an ordinance regulating truck parking cost Palm Beach County millions?
At 16,000 pounds, lawn care maintenance companies and other small business haulers will be able to continue to operate. Under the new ordinance, two commercial trucks could be parked on each lot but they must be under 16,000 pounds. The previous ordinance allowed for only one commercial truck.
Former firefighter: It's not safe for semis to be in The Acreage
Richard Vassalotti, a longtime resident of The Acreage and a retired fire rescue captain, testified Feb. 22 against allowing big rigs in The Acreage. He noted he did not appear on behalf of his former employer. Vassalotti also testified against the ordinance last month when the ordinance was considered on first reading.
"Why in the world would we want to make a bad situation worse?" he asked, noting that The Acreage has an accident rate much higher than the rest of the county. He said there have already been deadly accidents involving the big rigs. Even an unloaded one, he said, weighs 36,000 pounds, adding that they often carry dangerous cargo.
Even the critics of the higher weight limits agree there is a critical shortage of parking spaces for the semis. Many of them can be found parked along ramps of Interstate 95 and Florida’s Turnpike. Weiss said county planners have been instructed to look at possible zoning changes that would make it easier for commercial truck parking lots to be built in Palm Beach County.
Mike Diamond is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government and transportation. You can reach him at mdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County to truckers: You must leave The Acreage by July 1
