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Flossmoor plan commission to hold Dec. 20 hearing on truck parking

Flossmoor residents are another step closer to being able to move their pickup trucks from their garages to their driveways as a decades-old ban is set to go before the village’s plan commission.
 
The Flossmoor village board Monday unanimously voted to put the zoning ordinance amendment up for a public hearing during the Dec. 20 plan commission meeting. The board will make the final decision after receiving the commission’s recommendation.
 
The ordinance was originally approved to enhance the community’s aesthetics in the 1980s when some considered pickup trucks to be unsuitable for a community that was known for its affluent lifestyle.
 
Pickup trucks were prohibited from being parked in garages as well, until the late ‘80s when that restriction was lifted.
 
Mayor Paul Braun said he and the board decided to put the issue on a referendum to gauge modern-day opinions after some residents expressed that they wanted the ordinance changed.
 
“People were circulating some petitions, but the petitions didn’t really cover the whole village and they didn’t have addresses on them,” he said. “So we had some numbers, but we didn’t have an accurate count in terms of what people were thinking.”
 
The Nov. 6 referendum resulted in 3,247 votes in favor of allowing trucks to park in Flossmoor and 1,940 against it, a margin of about 62.6 percent to 37.4 percent.
 
If approved, the amendment would allow a Class B truck or van (8,000 pounds or less) or a vehicle with specialty plates of a similar size to park on a residential driveway, excluding commercial vehicles. Commercial markings or equipment attached to the outside of the vehicle would mean that it is still prohibited.
 
Other conditions would include that the vehicle is not designed to carry more than 10 passengers and that there are no items in the bed of the vehicle unless covered (cover must be designed for/fitted to the truck).
 
The vehicle also must have no more than four wheels, be no taller or wider than eight feet and have no part of its exhaust system installed above its frame.
 
Braun said he was pleased to see a definitive outcome from the referendum with about a 2-to-1 ratio of residents favoring change.
 
“What I think I and the board was concerned about was that if it was extremely close, then how was the board going to make a decision one way or another when it comes to moving forward,” Braun said.
 
Board members did not discuss their thoughts on changing the ordinance Monday; they only voted on sending it to the commission. Residents can voice their opinions on the matter at the Dec. 20 meeting scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Village Hall, 2800 Flossmoor Road.
 
“It’s really up to the plan commission to hold a public hearing, and then we’ll get it back here (before the village board) and move it forward from there,” Braun said. 

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