Pennsylvania Town Faces Truck-Towing Dilemma
It’s a problem that can keep you up all night. Literally.
Trucks parked on private property have become an issue in Chestnuthill Township, Pennsylvania. But it’s a quagmire. Property owners are responsible for removing the trucks, yet doing so is an onerous process that one shopping center owner said is a losing proposition.
Chestnuthill Township regulations prohibit commercial truck parking on commercial lots that have no affiliation with the businesses. The township’s zoning officer, Matt Neeb, gets constant calls and e-mails about them. The township issues warnings to the property owners with information packets before taking enforcement actions.
“We go try to open a line of communication first. If they continue, you have to go the violation and enforcement route,” he said.
That can lead to fines against the property, not truck owner. It could be a grocery store or a strip mall. Chestnuthill Township’s problems are greatest at the Mount Effort Shopping Plaza on Route 115 and a neighboring gas station.
The property owner has to remove the vehicles, most often tractor-trailers. That’s where the trouble begins.
“We put warnings on their trucks, but they ignore them,” Mount Effort Shopping Plaza co-owner Keith Beccia said. “It blocks views of stores and looks bad.”
But getting the trucks towed isn’t easy, according to Beccia. He’s required to locate signs in specific places and have someone there when the towing company comes. That might be the middle of the night, and the property owner or a representative must be there to sign the form.
There are other problems.
“A lot of towing companies don’t want to touch it because they can get sued,” he said. “It’s not their favorite way to make money.”
Schlier's Towing is one of just a couple of local towing companies equiped to remove tractor-trailers. Owner Jim Schlier said if Beccia’s people are confronted by a trucker, they won’t sign the form. Without that, Schlier can’t tow the truck
“We tow all over the state,” Schlier said, placing part of the blame on Beccia.
Schlier's also puts up and maintains the no-parking signs in parking lots as required by local ordinances.
“You must have signs in certain places,” Beccia said. “The truckers see the signs, they rip them down. The towing company shows up and won’t tow the truck unless the signs are up.”
Making matters worse, truckers sometimes put locks on the trailers that make it impractical to tow it, Schlier said.
It's not just trucks or even dilapidated cars. “Sometimes the truckers are dropping their containers and leave for a week before returning,” Neeb said.
It’s happens all over the state, Beccia said. He owns six malls in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Connecticut. “In Jersey, Connecticut, I’ve never had this problem. They must have different laws. [Truckers in Pennsylvania] know it’s very difficult for owners and towing companies to tow their vehicle.”
Beccia said it would be easier if the local governments or states passed a law that says if you are parked on private property illegally, the owner can tow without repercussions.
“The real solution is to go after the guys that cause the problem instead of the owner of the property. They don’t want the truck parked on their property.”
