Page 6 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • July 16, 2014 Franklin Lakes Council to reintroduce overnight parking ordinance by Frank J. McMahon The Franklin Lakes Borough Council is expected to reintroduce an amended overnight parking ordinance this week. The ordinance was tabled at the June17 public meet- ing due to various concerns expressed by a number of residents. According to the discussion at the July 1 work session, the amended ordinance would allow certain vehicles to be parked on residential property, but those vehicles must be parked in the driveway and not on the lawn, and the maximum size of non-commercial recreational vehicles would be increased from 15 to 24 feet. The council agreed that the number of cars that are parked in a residential driveway should not be limited, but the vehicles must all be operable. When the original ordinance was tabled, Mayor Frank Bivona explained that some facts had been brought to his attention that “deserve particular thought.” He rec- ommended that the ordinance be tabled. “It is not our intention to ban things that are not a problem,” Bivona said, referring in particular to the part of the ordinance that limits a non-commercial light util- ity trailer to a 15-foot length. “So it is my opinion that we should table this ordinance and look into amend- ing the ordinance to reflect some of the comments we received.” The borough council unanimously agreed. The ordinance would have amended the regulations for the overnight parking of vehicles in residential drive- ways, limited the number of recreational vehicles to one, and limited trailers to one non-commercial utility trailer not exceeding 15 feet. The ordinance amendment was prompted by a com- plaint by Windswept Lane resident Marianne Dill, who lives in Spring Lake and rents her Windswept Lane house to tenants. She attended the council work session in April to complain that a large vehicle was parked next to her house. Because she rents the house to a tenant, Dill said she never noticed the large vehicle parked next door, but now she wants to sell her house and she feels the oversized vehicle will be a detriment to that effort. After the original ordinance was introduced on May 20, a number of residents voiced concerns about it and several attended the council’s public meeting on June 17 to express those concerns. Carl Stevens, who lives in a split level house on the 8/10 of an acre property next door to Dill, whose house is a contemporary style with a smaller house next to it that sits on 1.27 acres, complained about a letter Dill sent to Bivona complaining about him and the vehicle he parks in his driveway. Stevens has a car business in Paterson and his recreational vehicle sits on the side of his driveway during the winter. After the winter, he uses it for racing cars. “Why is this matter urgent when the letter is from a person who doesn’t even live there?” Stevens asked. “My vehicle has been there for 10 years, since 2004, and now, because she wants to sell her house, one person can change an ordinance?” Bivona explained that the issue is the number and size of vehicles in driveways in a residential zone. He said the borough often looks into issues raised by a resident. A Franklin Lake Road resident pointed out that a number of people in town own boat trailers and travel trailers and, under the original ordinance, they would not be permitted to park those trailers overnight in their driveways. “Our intention was not to prohibit things that are not causing a problem,” Bivona responded, “that’s why we are pulling back. We don’t want to hurt anyone.” Robert Medeiros, who lives in a Colonial style house on a half-acre of property on Robert’s Court, told the mayor and council there are a lot of things around town that are a problem and, in the past, when there was a neighbor versus neighbor problem, it was resolved by vigilant enforcement by the borough’s zoning officer. “His vehicle has been there for 10 years and now there’s a problem because she wants to sell her house?” he asked. “This is not a problem to the person selling a house, but it would be a problem to their neighbor...so consider the impact of this ordinance on the neighbor and not just on the owner who wants to sell her house.” Medeiros said there are many one to one-and-a-half acre lots in the borough, but he lives in a half-acre zone and certain size trailers would be too big on a half-acre lot, but not too big on a one or one-and-a-half acre lot. He suggested the council create different standards for different sized lots.