A Walmart store in Springfield, Illinois, is facing tens of thousands of dollars worth of fines for allowing tractor trailers to park in the store’s lot.
Last Wednesday, city officials in Springfield approved a measure to impose a $50,000 fine to the Walmart Supercenter store at 1100 Lejune Drive, according to reporting from the State Journal-Register.
For months now, the city of Springfield has been battling with Walmart over parking ordinance violations that involve a $500 per day fine for every day that the location allows tractor trailers to park. During last week’s fine assessment hearing, city officials opted to retroactively impose the $500 per day fine and to cap the total penalty at $50,000.
The city argues that the parked trucks pose a safety concern and reduce visibility. The city also points out that when the store was built, there were no plans to allow overnight truck parking in the lot.
There are “no overnight parking” signs posted in the parking lot.
In February of 2018, the Walmart location with hit with $18,000 fine for allowing truck parking in their lot between the dates of November 8 and December 13 in 2017. After this fine was issued, Walmart representatives shared plans to remedy the situation by re-striping the parking lot to provide proper truck park spots, increasing parking lot security, and by changing the store’s landscaping to prevent trucks from entering the lot. City officials determined that Walmart never followed through on any of these plans and that trucks were still parking in the lot, so the $18,000 fine ballooned into $50,000.
Both Walmart and the city of Springfield say that they are looking for ways to solve the truck parking problem. Walmart spokesperson Casey Staheli said, “At this time, we are in the process of weighing our options as to how best to proceed. Nevertheless, Walmart will continue to amicably work with the City of Springfield, in accordance with the applicable ordinances, to ensure that a fair and reasonable solution is achieved and any such issues are resolved.”