Nevada truckers threaten $500 truck parking surcharge
A group of truck drivers in Nevada is threatening a $500 surcharge on deliveries into Clark County if officials do not address the truck parking shortage soon.
Typical of many counties with a large metro area, Clark County has a lot of freight activity but not enough truck parking to accommodate the trucks moving that freight. After years of complaining about the parking shortage, one group of truckers has had enough.
In a letter sent to Clark County commissioners obtained by Land Line, the Nevada Hispanic Truckers Association is demanding that they either start allowing more truck parking development or start paying up.
According to the association, the issue at hand is the county’s rules and zoning laws, which make developing additional truck parking where it is needed virtually impossible. Consequently, local owner-operator truck drivers are forced to park their trucks overnight illegally, facing a $500 fine each time they do.
A 2019 story by The Daily Indy revealed there were only two official truck parking spaces in the Las Vegas Valley at the time. That was also the time the county beefed up parking enforcement. Since then, the parking situation has not shown significant improvement.
The Nevada Hispanic Truckers Association claims it has attempted to create truck parking facilities, “only to be chased away by outdated rules and red tape.”
The letter to Clark County Commissioner Chairman Tick Segerblom accuses the county of “a valley-wide crackdown on dozens of truck yards.”
For example, the association states that more than 60 truck drivers park at a yard located on North Nellis Boulevard, for which nearby residents signed off on a letter of support. Despite residential and county staff approval of the yard, the county commission voted against it, according to the letter.
“We don’t want to park our $100,000 trucks on the street,” the trucking association states. “We are the ones who get robbed, our trucks get broken into and our fuel gets stolen. We demand safe truck yards for our sons and fathers to park today, not in three years.”
The association is demanding that the county “cut the red tape, stop closing truck yards and stop ticketing us until you open more truck yards.” In addition to seeking a refund for all truck parking tickets issued since 2019, the trucker group indicated it may start adding a $500 surcharge on deliveries into Clark County beginning July 1 if county officials do not address the issue.
Segerblom told KVVU-TV that truck yards were shut down because they were never legal in the first place due to zoning and code violations. He said the county is working on new policies to build more truck parking. In the meantime, Segerblom indicated Clark County will approve a parking facility that meets zoning requirements.
Neither Segerblom nor Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick could be reached for comment. LL