Commercial Vehicle Parking (Bernard)

Councilman Bernard talked about commercial vehicles being parked on the streets from other towns overnight. He said that Chief Goul was going to sit down with the Township Attorney to review the ordinance. He would like an ordinance created. The Council discussed what type of vehicle and whether the service is being done at a house in Bloomfield.

Councilman Bernard said it does not give commercial vehicles from Newark to park in Bloomfield.

Some of the suggestions was the weight, name of business on the vehicles and permit parking.

Councilman Bernard said he has on the agenda "Commercial Vehicle Parking".

Mr. Aloia stated that the Council has discussed this numerous times and he understands that the Council would like to eliminate commercial vehicle parking. He said they can quickly do this by passing an ordinance to eliminate commercial vehicle parking overnight if that is the pleasure of the Council. Mr. Aloia explained that there are people that own or are working on a job at a particular house and are parking their vehicles over night and non-commercial vehicles are having to park elsewhere. Mr. Aloia said that he parks in the lot and it only costs him $2.00 a day, which is not a lot.

Councilman Bernard asked what can be done.

Mr. Aloia said the Council can pass an ordinance eliminating overnight parking on the streets for Commercial Vehicles.

Councilwoman Dunigan said she knows there is a company that has 40-50 trucks and lets their employees take them home at night because it is cheaper for the company than to have to find and pay to park them overnight somewhere else.

Councilman Bernard moved the passing of an ordinance eliminating commercial trucks or vans overnight on the streets of Bloomfield, which motion was seconded by Councilman Chalet for discussion.

Roll call vote showed:

Councilman Bernard asked to have the Ordinance amended to include additional vehicles and additional exempt locations, to which Township Attorney Brian Aloia responded. Thereafter, a discussion took place amongst Mayor McCarthy, Councilman Joanow, and Councilman Chalet.

Mayor McCarthy asked the Municipal Clerk to poll the Council on a motion to move the Ordinance to the Conference Meeting of January 28, 2013 so that further amendments could be made to the Ordinance.

Vote to move the Ordinance to the Conference Meeting showed the following:

Councilman Chalet - Yes Councilman Venezia - Yes

Councilman Joanow - Yes Councilwoman Dunigan - Yes

Councilman Bernard - Yes Councilman Hamilton - Yes

Mayor McCarthy - Yes

Mr. Aloia discussed the changes the Council wanted on this ordinance. He said one of the items was parking a commercial vehicle in a residential area, permit parking for commercial vehicles, Police Department access, 5000 lb capacity, conflicts in the ordinance, parking problems and truck parking ordinance. Suggestions were to reduce the poundage of the trucks and adopt the ordinance as written.

Councilman Bernard moved the changes, which motion was seconded by Councilman Venezia for discussion.

Roll call vote showed:

Vote showed the following:

Prior to the vote being taken on the Ordinance, Mayor McCarthy asked the Township Attorney, Brian Aloia, if the idea of parking permits suggested by speaker Leo Sceurman earlier in the evening could be included in the Ordinance, to which the Township Attorney responded that a different Ordinance would need to be amended to include the parking permits suggested.

Vote showed the following:

Councilman Bernard moved that the Ordinance be adopted on final reading, which was seconded by Councilman Venezia.

Mayor McCarthy called for comments from the public.

Leo Sceurman, 50 Clark Avenue, Bloomfield, New Jersey, took the microphone and inquired of the Mayor and Council if any modification had been made in the language of the Ordinance to provide relief to Township residents via parking permits, after which a discussion between Mayor McCarthy and Brian Aloia, Township Attorney, took place.

Mayor McCarthy then called for comments from the Council. There being none, he asked the Municipal Clerk to poll the Council.

Vote showed the following: