I give a lot of credit to Flossmoor residents who want the village to end its decades-long ban on parking pickup trucks on driveways.
Resident Luke Lambert is credited with spearheading the effort. He started an online petition that prompted village officials to reconsider its notorious restrictions on passenger vehicles used for personal use.
“People vote you here to make decisions,” Lambert told trustees during a Flossmoor Village Board meeting Monday night.
Thanks to Lambert and other residents who want to be able to park pickup trucks on their private property — like people can in virtually every other town in America — a team of village staff members studied the issue.
They looked at ordinances in neighboring towns, in communities similar to Flossmoor around Illinois and in cities and villages across the nation. They concluded Flossmoor is the only place in the United States where residents lack the freedom to park a personal-use pickup truck on their driveway.
“In summary, the village of Flossmoor’s current regulations on truck parking are unique not only in Illinois but throughout the country,” Scott Bugner, Flossmoor’s inspectional services administrator, wrote to Village Manager Bridget Wachtel in a memo dated Monday.
I tip my hat to Lambert and others trying to persuade village trustees that it’s time to lift Flossmoor’s ban. Times have changed, they say, and so have vehicles. Pickup trucks aren’t the grubby, unsightly workhorses of yore. They’re no more likely to end up rusty, dinged and dented than your typical passenger car, SUV or other vehicle.
Automakers market today’s shiny pickups to families who pile kids into the back seats of extended cabs and shuttle them to school, soccer games and dance rehearsals. Some luxury pickups cost more than $50,000. Some are so big they can’t fit into some of Flossmoor’s small garages.
“We’re eliminating people from moving into the area,” resident Margaret Hollandsworth told trustees. “I’m looking at the future of Flossmoor. Truck owners make good money. They’re union people. I hope you consider change, for the good of Flossmoor.”
I thought residents like Hollandsworth made excellent points. I wondered if the ban affected property values. Prospective buyers who own pickups might pass on a home for sale in Flossmoor and choose a comparable property in neighboring Homewood, Olympia Fields or Country Club Hills.
Some of the 35 or so residents who attended Monday’s meeting said it seemed like there are more vacant houses than there used to be in Flossmoor. Some homeowners may have trouble selling homes because of the village’s pickup ban.
One woman said she and her husband, who drives a vehicle with a B-class license plate for work, were unaware of the restrictions when they bought their home in Flossmoor last year.
“We didn’t know,” Denise King said. “We’ve been getting tickets since December.”
“You shouldn’t restrict us from living our lives,” said her husband, Andre King. “If we knew about the ordinance we’d have kept looking” for a home in a different community.
Just as I credit residents for presenting well-informed positions on why Flossmoor should lift its pickup ban, I credit village officials for giving the matter due consideration.
“This was not an easy task for staff to do the research,” Mayor Paul Braun told the audience Monday.
Braun and several trustees said that if Flossmoor were to lift its ban on personal-use pickups, the village would likely keep in place restrictions that prohibit trucks used for commercial purposes.
Details would be hashed out by the village’s plan commission, but it would likely mean that trucks with signage, racks for ladders, boxes for tools and cargo beds full of work materials would continue to be banned from being parked on driveways.
“To date there is no interest in relaxing restrictions for commercial vehicles,” Braun said.
The village board could decide to send the matter directly to the plan commission. But the consensus of trustees seems to be to draft a question that would be put to Flossmoor voters in November as an advisory referendum.
“I think there is great utility and value in placing a referendum on the November ballot,” Braun said. “We can find out what the community thinks in general. If a majority of the community says it wants change, that makes our job much easier. If a majority doesn’t want change, the board will take that into consideration.”
This seems like a reasonable approach. Flossmoor’s restrictions have been in place since at least the 1980s. Until about 30 years ago, you couldn’t even park a pickup in a garage in Flossmoor.
Some proponents for change think a referendum is unnecessary. A referendum will divide the community, one woman told trustees. Yard signs will create tension between pro-truck and anti-truck factions.
People opposed to change in Flossmoor are entitled to their opinions. A few of them spoke Monday night. One woman said village police are already busy enforcing other ordinances. Changing the policy would create more work, she said.
“Give people an inch and they’ll take a mile,” she said. “We’re going to end up with semis parked here.”
One man said the process that prompted village officials to revisit the ban was flawed because nonresidents could have signed the online petition.
“The foundation (for the review) is suspect,” the man said.
Many long-time residents want the ban to remain in place, he said.
“We are an elitist community,” he said. “This is Flossmoor. We are different from everyone else.”
Other residents said lifting the ban would encourage more people to spruce up their homes and yards. Making trips to home-improvement stores for mulch and other materials would be easier if pickups were allowed, they said. Home values might increase.
I appreciate how trustees have to wrestle with a difficult issue. No matter what they decide, up to half the community might be upset with the outcome. I think lifting the ban is the right thing to do, but I understand why they want to put the question to voters.
“It appears to be the board opinion that we are going to put this up to referendum,” Braun said.
