WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — In two months, people who live in the Acreage or Loxahatchee will no longer be allowed to park their semi-trucks at their homes. But now, some semi-truck owners are suing Palm Beach County. They say the county is going too far with this ordinance.
The details of the case are spelled out in a 12-page lawsuit filed by two semi-truck owners. They say the county needs to allow them to continue to park their semi-trucks at their homes because otherwise they could be forced out of business.
"My clients are scared and they're fighting for their livelihood out there," said Chris Mills, an attorney for the semi-truck owners who are suing in Palm Beach County Circuit Court.
Palm Beach County Commissioners approved an ordinance that says after July 1, anyone with a truck that weighs more than 16,000 pounds would be banned from parking it at their home in the Acreage and Loxahatchee.
Mills says Palm Beach County has no right to tell them they can't legally park their 18-wheelers at their homes.
"They just want to continue doing what they've always done. They want to continue to use their trucks, run their businesses out of their homes," Mills said.
Semi-truck owners like Natalia Melian are among those impacted. She and her husband own two semis that they keep parked at their home in Loxahatchee. They run a small trucking business and they haul paper products, produce and building materials.
"Can you rent a space somewhere to park your truck so it's not at your house?" we asked Melian.
"Even if I was able to, I'm just scared that it will put me out of business if we get parts stolen or the actual truck stolen," she explained.
Melian says the fees to park their two semis in a lot somewhere in the county would be so high that it would cut too much into their profits.
"I feel very bad. I feel like the county needs to listen a little more," Melian said.
But some say having semi-trucks in the Acreage and Loxahatchee is not good because the roads there were not made to handle trucks that big and heavy, and the trucks are damaging the roads.
Some applaud the new rule.
"I've lived in the Acreage for 31 years. It's been a pleasant place to live, and I don't want any of these large trucks starting engines up at 4 o'clock in the morning next door to me, which has happened to some of my neighbors," a man told County Commissioners at a Palm Beach County Commission Zoning Hearing November 29, 2023, in West Palm Beach.
We reached out to all the Palm Beach County Commissioners.
Assistants for two of them told CBS12 News the county commissioners could not comment on pending litigation.
According to the attorney for the semi-truck owners who are suing, no court date has been set.
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