Contractors May Get Grace Period in New Truck Law

Licensed contractors whose trucks exceed a 12,000-pound gross vehicle weight limit could be exempt for 18 months from a new law designed to curb the parking of large commercial vehicles on residential lots, under a revised draft of the law.

A previous proposal would have allowed those contractors to continue parking their large work trucks at their houses for as long as they lived there, provided the parking spots were screened. Renters would not have been granted the exemption.

But on Tuesday, after hearing comments that morning and at a meeting last Thursday from residents who objected to the ongoing exemption, the town board asked Michael Sendlenski, a town attorney, to draw up a revised version of the law for public hearing. The 18-month grace period would be extended to both homeowners and renters, provided they have a town home improvement contractor’s license and a duly registered vehicle.

“Some people are calling it an amnesty,” Supervisor Larry Cantwell said of the originally proposed exemption, designed for business owners who use their vehicles as transportation to and from job sites. “I prefer to call it a phaseout.”

But Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc gained the approval Tuesday of other board members when he suggested that nonconforming vehicles ought not be parked in residential areas indefinitely. Nor, he said, should the board set different rules for contractors who rent versus those who own their homes.

While conducting a business in a residential zone is prohibited, contractors had told the board that if they were not allowed to park their work trucks at their houses it would seriously affect their ability to conduct business.

Numerous residents, particularly of Springs, where neighborhoods are densely developed, have complained bitterly of a burgeoning number of properties where box trucks, dump trucks, equipment trailers, and other commercially used vehicles are parked overnight, changing the residential appearance of the hamlet.

To help town ordinance officers address the issue, the current board, like its immediate predecessors, developed a definition of the “light trucks” that are unrestricted, thereby outlining what is not allowed overnight on residential properties.

The proposed legislation draws the line at vehicles of 12,000 pounds or more, and includes some dimensional characteristics. Standard pickup trucks will not be limited, though no more than two that have business signs or lettering on them will be allowed. Storage of heavy equipment such as bulldozers on residential property will be prohibited, as will materials used in landscaping or construction. One “light truck” under the size limit will be allowed.

Licensed contractors, however, will be allowed to continue parking a larger vehicle, up to 14,000 pounds gross vehicle weight, during the proposed 18-month phaseout period. After that, they will have to find commercially zoned property to store their vehicles.

An analysis of the number of people who could be affected by the proposed legislation was developed by Alex Walter, Mr. Cantwell’s executive assistant, and presented on Tuesday. Based on information on the 330 holders of town contractors’ licenses who live in East Hampton (of 1,121 licenses that have been issued), Mr. Walter calculated that about 100 likely live in Springs.

Though the number of those who own oversize trucks and own and occupy their own residential properties is unknown, Mr. Walter calculated statistically a total of 20 to 30 as a “reasonable estimate” of those who might be eligible for an exemption under the law as previously proposed.

A draft of the new law will be prepared for board discussion and a future public hearing.