HUMBOLDT — After years of complaints, Humboldt council members agreed to address the issue of semi-trailer trucks parking on the east and west ends of downtown along Bridge Street.
During his term as city administrator, Cole Herder said the issue has only increased.
Complaints include the lack of visibility created by as many as six or seven semis parked at the entrance of the Neosho Street Bridge and by the nearby homeowners’ ability to safely back their vehicles from their residences.
Some residents have also complained that their only “view” from their front windows is that of the enormous vehicles. In some cases, the drivers detach their tractor units and leave the trailers parked along the street for days at a time.
Even though he admitted it’s a problem, Herder was hesitant to recommend the council act on it.
“I’m not convinced it’s the city’s responsibility to find the answer,” he said.
Council members disagreed.
“We need to decide what kind of town we want to be,” said Paul Cloutier. “Do we want trash in our streets or people unhappy that they have to look at big trucks out their front windows?”
Mayor Nobby Davis agreed, saying “it’s like buying oceanfront property and not being able to see the water.”
Police Chief Shannon Moore said her main concern is for the elderly residents who live along the street and their ability to navigate around the large rigs.
“They poke the noses of their cars out slowly as they back out of their driveways,” onto the busy street, she said. “The more trucks, the bigger the problem.”
Humboldt code allows residents to park the tractor unit on their properties, but not the extended trailers.
Davis recommended the Street Committee study the matter to come up with a reasonable alternative in order to ban semi-trailer trucks from parking along the street.
THE CITY will begin work on a public awareness campaign about its stormwater inflow and infiltration predicament.
Simply put, there’s an inordinate amount of water flowing into the city’s water treatment plant that city officials suspect is stormwater, not sewage.
Jeremy Bulk, director of public works, said the city’s water treatment plant has the capacity to treat 250,000 gallons a day.
“We’re at 240,000 gallons a day,” he said
