The city of Midland, Texas, is at work on a new ordinance that would keep truckers from parking on commercial properties like store parking lots.
Thanks to a campaign spearheaded by Midland City Councilman J.Ross Lacy, as of October 1, 2018, the Midland Police Department will be able to cite truck drivers who are parked on commercial property.
Drivers found in violation of the new ordinance are subject to a $500 fine.
According to local news station Your Basin, prior to the new ordinance, Midland Police have only been able to ticket truckers for parking on residential property, even though it is illegal for trucks to park on both commercial and residential property. Businesses must post signage forbidding truck parking on their property in order for the ordinance to be enforced.
During a ride-along with Midland Police on Tuesday, August 14, Lacy spotted several trucks parked at a Walmart lot off of I-20 where signs forbidding truck parking were posted. Lacy called the parked trucks ” just completely disgusting” and said, “What we need to do is step up our enforcement, have the laws on the books that allows our police department code officers to go after these 18-wheelers.”
Lacy said that after the October 1 implementation date, “… we’re going to start going after that. We’re going to start letting these parking lots go back to property owners, rather than letting them be inundated with all of these 18-wheelers.”