BY MATT HERSH

A recent zoning decision made by Salem building inspector Sam Zannini has Selectman Pat Hargreaves pushing for a better-defined ordinance about parking commercial vehicles.

The ruling bans commercial vehicles from parking in residential driveways, but Hargreaves believes the ordinance is too general in scope. It will unnecessarily hurt local business, he said.

The Zoning Board of Adjustment upheld Zannini’s ruling that Michael Petrilli of Lighthouse Vending couldn’t park commercial trucks in his driveway.

Hargreaves, who owns Pat’s Lock and Key and sometimes parks his company vans in his driveway, said he doesn’t disagree with Zannini’s ruling.  

But the ruling doesn’t give specific guidelines about what vehicles are allowed to park in residential driveways overnight, he said.

“If you go under the premise of the ruling, no commercial vehicle would be allowed in a driveway,” Hargreaves said. “I don’t want a dump truck parked next to my home overnight but you can’t generalize at the same time. I’m looking at clarifying this mandate.”

Hargreaves said he wants the town to have a specific list of vehicles that cannot be parked in residential driveways, complete with weight and height specifications.

Currently, Zannini decides on a case-by-case basis whether a certain vehicle should be allowed to park at a residence.
The vehicles concerned in Zannini’s recent ruling were box trucks, which he deemed to large for a residence.

Hargreaves said he’s concerned that this system could hurt small business owners because one complaint from a neighbor could lead to a loss of revenue.

“Look at all the commercial vehicles we have in town,” he said. “It’s everything from Comcast to ice cream trucks. These people take their vehicles home every night. If a disgruntled neighbor doesn’t like ice cream guys, that’s all it would take to hurt business.”

Still, others say it’s a matter of interpretation. Selectman Beth Roth said the current ordinance is written so the town can take each case under consideration before making a ruling.

“I don’t think the ordinance needs to be rewritten, but the understanding of it certainly has to be uniform,” she said. “If a small business owner has only one truck, we certainly can’t deny them access to their vehicle, but if someone only has a dump truck, they might be pushing the edge a little bit.”

Hargreaves said he’s going to sit down with Town Manager Henry LaBranche to review the ordinance. Together, they may come up with a suggested revision to the ordinance.

Roth said she and the Planning Board will discuss the issue at its next meeting.