Joliet eyes new restriction on truck parking

Joliet plans a new permit aimed at preventing random semitrailer parking around town.

The proposed permit is aimed at overnight semitrailer parking in large lots, like the area outside the vacant Sears store at the Louis Joliet Mall or even the parking lot for Tony’s Fresh Market at Jefferson Street and Larkin Avenue where trucks started to park when it was an empty Kmart store.

“It’s a tough problem to address, but we think this is a way to do it,” Deputy City Attorney Chris Regis told the Joliet City Council Land Use and Legislative Committee when it met June 8.

City officials have been looking for a way to deal with the issue since at least 2019.

The committee after a couple of questions voted 3-0 to recommend the proposed special use permit to the City Council for final approval, probably in July.

Council member Sherri Reardon asked if the property owner would be fined for trucks parked on the lot.

Regis said the $150 ticket would go to the truck owner not the property owner.

The proposed ordinance requires that a city-issued special use permit be granted to a property before trucks weighing more than 8,000 pounds could be parked on the site. The permit would not be needed for trucks making a delivery or waiting to make a delivery to a business on the property.

Regis said the permit was developed in response to public concerns about where semitrailers are parked.

“We get complaints from time to time about people parking trucks at random locations around the city,” he said.

But truckers claiming they had permission to park on a lot could evade enforcement.

“It’s difficult to regulate that because it’s private property,” Regis said.