Truck stop: Resident at odds with city, neighbor over right to park custom vehicle in driveway

Jeffrey Libby

Monday, April 30, 2001 | 11:06 a.m.

Trucker Bill Stickel and his wife, Trisha, are paying an attorney $1,500 to go to court over a $90 parking ticket.

But when Stickel looks up at the 17 1/2 foot, 1993 Volvo WhiteGMC truck parked comfortably in his private driveway, he says he still wonders exactly why the city is pursuing a complaint against him.

Parked about 15 feet off a steep street lined with mobile homes, trailered speed boats and Skidoos, the custom diesel truck is easy to miss from the road.

"There's got to be more to it than this truck sitting in this driveway," Stickel said recently after a day of work. The Stickels use the truck in their business hauling mobile homes in the Las Vegas area.

The complaint written on the ticket is plain enough: Stickel's commercial truck was parked in a residential neighborhood March 20, the day before a Boulder City police officer hand-delivered the ticket to Stickel's front door.

It has been parked in that spot most nights since the Stickels moved to Kendall Lane from Southern California in 1996.

But Trisha says the ordinance restricting commercial trucks addresses city streets, not her private property.

"Does the city have the right to dictate whether I park my private vehicle in my private driveway?" Trisha Stickel asked. "I keep the lawn very well manicured. I've got flowers, nothing broken down and I've got a bright, very shiny brand-new painted truck."

City Attorney Dave Olsen says that constitutional rights notwithstanding, in this case, it appears that the city does have an obligation to enforce city codes even on private property.

Under a section of code governing streets and traffic, commercial vehicles with gross vehicle weight more than 15,000 pounds, or any tractor-trailer, are barred from parking in a residential area except during the course of business, Olsen said.

The question, Olsen said, is whether the judge rules that the ordinance covers parking generally, or if it is limited to streets. The Stickels made an initial court appearance April 17. A misdemeanor trial in municipal court has been set for July 12. The Stickels face a maximum fine of $1,000 and six months in jail, although Olsen said a stiff ruling would be unlikely.

Boulder City Police contend that the Stickels' truck is a tractor-trailer. They say it has a gross vehicle weight rating of 32,000 pounds.

But Stickel refutes both claims. Unlike most tractor-trailers, Stickel's truck does not have the greased carrying plate known commonly as a "fifth wheel." Instead, he uses a custom ball hitch, similar to those used by most passenger cars and trucks.

The vehicle weight, according to his registration, is 14,620 pounds. The police arrived at 32,000 pounds by adding the maximum carrying capacity of his steering axle and rear axle, he said.

"All I've been told for the last five years is that we're not breaking any laws," Stickel said.

The Stickels say police have responded to more than a dozen complaints against them, ranging from an unregistered pontoon boat to excessive noise from an idling truck over the past five years. But none has resulted in a citation until now. They say all of the complaints stem from one neighbor.

Olsen doesn't deny that claim. And neither do police.

"This case does point out that it's possible, especially in a small town, for a person to take an ordinance and use it to vex a neighbor," Olsen said. "Because all of us violate the building codes or the zoning codes without even knowing it. We all do it."

Whether it's washing a car in the street or leaving a mobile home parked in the same place for more than 72 hours, Olsen said, there are plenty of small violations a killjoy can harp on.

But some say more may be at work here than bitterness.

"It's a good-old-boy network, so it doesn't have to make any sense," Dave Coates, a painting contractor and neighbor of the Stickels, said. "It's a small town and that's the way it is.

"It's not necessarily a bad way of life. It's something you get used to. And usually it doesn't have a bad impact."

If the court upholds the ticket, Stickel would have to find a commercial lot to park his truck. It would mean worrying again about stolen tools and other small, but still significant, changes, Stickel says.

In the meantime, Stickel says he will continue to fire up his truck each morning, wait five minutes for the air pressure to build up in his brakes, and then coast down the hill overlooking Lake Mead to finish warming up the engine at the gas station at the bottom of the hill.

Though Coates' wife, Ellen, says her husband's diesel pickup makes more noise than Stickel's, Bill is doing his best to keep all of his neighbors happy.