The San Antonio Public Safety Committee voted on Feb. 18 to advance an ordinance option to the full City Council that would prohibit overnight parking of oversized commercial vehicles within 1,000 feet of residentially zoned areas between midnight and 6 a.m., except when a vehicle is actively loading or unloading or making emergency repairs.

Maria Vargas Yates, Director of Integrated Community Safety, told the committee the city code definition of an oversized vehicle is “a motor vehicle or trailer which exceeds . . . 24 feet in length, 8 feet in width, or 8 feet in height,” and that recreational vehicles are excluded from that definition. She said restricting overnight parking in a 1,000-foot buffer would expand the area where truck parking is limited from about 210 square miles of residential zoning to roughly 401 square miles, leaving about 110 square miles of the city without that restriction under the proposed map.

The nut of the committee’s debate centered on balancing neighborhood safety and livability against the practical parking needs of small trucking businesses. Councilman Balazs, who filed the earlier council-council request (CCR) on the issue in May 2022, urged the committee to send the 1,000-foot proposal directly to an A session rather than another briefing, saying the delay had frustrated constituents: “Three years have passed,” Balazs said, arguing the measure is a response to repeated constituent complaints about trucks parking near homes and creating sight-line, safety and noise problems.

Staff described two broad options the committee could forward. Option A would create a citywide 1,000-foot buffer around residentially zoned areas, enforced between midnight and 6 a.m., with signs, public education and SAPD and code enforcement responsible for initial education and subsequent citations. Option B would be a more targeted approach that amends city code to allow localized oversized-vehicle no-parking zones where residents petition or staff identify specific problem locations; that option would also propose raising the fine for oversized vehicles parked in a posted no-parking zone from $35 to $500.

Supporters of Option A said a citywide buffer would discourage trucks from establishing overnight parking close to homes. Councilmembers who favored Option A also asked staff to ensure posted signage is large and clear so drivers can see restrictions and not be unfairly ticketed. Council members and staff noted private parking options exist — roughly 15 private lots inside the city, concentrated in some districts, at an average reported cost of about $28 per day or $160 per month — and that a city analysis identified roughly 1,600 industrially zoned vacant parcels (about 7,800 acres) that might be considered if the council later pursues a designated truck parking facility.

Truck-driver outreach included a driver-targeted survey and two virtual town halls. Staff said 168 San Antonio resident truck drivers responded to the survey and that, on one survey question subset (88 respondents to that question), 73 respondents (about 83%) said they struggle to find parking. In comments and town halls, drivers also reported the proposed 1,000-foot restriction would significantly affect where they park; staff reported a mean impact rating of 4 on a 1-to-5 scale from drivers on that point.

Committee members raised enforcement and displacement concerns. Several members asked whether SAPD and code enforcement have sufficient personnel to enforce a new citywide restriction and whether signs could simply shift the problem into adjacent neighborhoods. Staff said enforcement would begin with education via SAPD SAFE officers and neighborhood outreach and escalate to citations; towing would be authorized only when vehicles pose a traffic hazard. Staff also said enforcement could be made more targeted by installing signs first in the city’s top citation locations and by coordinating a regular SAFE check-in schedule for problem “hot spots.”

The committee voted to advance the 1,000-foot buffer option to an A session. The motion carried; staff said they will brief councilmembers who were not on the committee ahead of the A session and continue to refine signage, education and implementation details.

What’s next: the ordinance language for Option A will go to a full City Council A session for consideration; staff said creating a city-owned designated truck parking facility would require a separate, more detailed discussion and likely significant investment or partnership with other agencies.