Overnight parking crackdown coming in St. Charles

St. Charles police are preparing to crack down on large trucks, trailers and campers parked overnight on city streets. At least to start, the crackdown will come with warnings and brochures rather than tickets.

Aldermen took a first look at a pending update to the city's overnight parking laws Monday night. The update spells out a ban on motor homes, mobile homes, trailers, boat trailers, tractors, buses and other large commercial vehicles weighing or transporting more than 8,000 pounds. That includes tow trucks.

Police Chief James Keegan said the update comes in response to residents' complaints about the vehicles clogging up city roadways. Aldermen indicated they also regularly received such complaints from their constituents.

"I'm pleased to see this," Alderman Maureen Lewis said. "It's going to make a lot of constituents where I live pleased."

Recognizing the owners of such vehicles may not be so pleased, Alderman Ron Silkaitis asked Keegan to make the crackdown more about public education than punitive measures.

"I'd ask you give warnings the first time; don't give tickets right away," Silkaitis said. "The second time it's on you, but the first time I'd like to give them a little break."

Keegan said his officers would lean on warnings more than tickets in the beginning. Those warnings will also come with a new brochure describing exactly what types of vehicles can and cannot park on city streets between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. Keegan said he will also work with city staff to beef up signs at the entrances of residential subdivisions about overnight parking rules. Older neighborhoods may see an addendum to the snowplow signs on their streets that also describe the overnight parking rules.

Aldermen unanimously agreed to the ordinance update. They must take one more vote before the crackdown can proceed.