A. Prohibited: Except as herein otherwise expressly provided, it shall be unlawful for the owner or operator of any truck, bus, tractor, or combination thereof as described in subsection C of this section to operate, park or let stand or permit the same to be operated, parked or let stand on any street or alley within any Residential Zone of the City of Sidney, Montana. Such vehicles need not be carrying a load to be in violation of this section.
B. Exceptions:
1. Any truck, bus, tractor or any combination thereof as described in subsection C of this section which is being operated, parked or let stand for the express purpose of loading or unloading merchandise, property, goods or passengers or for providing a service in a Residential Zone, nor to the operation, parking or standing of such truck, bus, tractor or combination thereof during that time while the driver or operator thereof has stopped, parked, is standing in a Residential Zone to eat or for other necessary purposes, provided, however, that such operating, parking or standing shall not be for longer than one hour, and in no case shall overnight parking be allowed except when such operation, parking or standing is necessitated by an emergency or by an act of God.
2. Any vehicle which is engaged in providing emergency services for public safety or welfare or providing for the maintenance and repair of public or private property.
3. Any truck, bus, tractor, trailer or any combination thereof as described in subsection C of this section which is being operated, parked or let stand for the express purpose of standard service work, equipment repair, vehicle cleaning or any function necessary to the safe operation of the above described vehicle(s). And further provided that said described vehicle(s) shall be empty of all cargo or goods and shall not be parked upon any City street nor shall said vehicle(s) be parked upon any City street for the purposes of any type of service work or maintenance on said vehicle(s).
C. Definitions:
BUSES: Any motor vehicle equipped for carrying passengers for hire or transporting schoolchildren, on its own chassis and which is licensed or grossed for thirty two thousand (32,000) pounds' GVW or more.
CAMPER VEHICLE: A vehicle, whether factory or home built, whether on or off wheels, whether towed or carried on a motor vehicle or self-propelled, including, but not limited to, recreational vehicles (RVs), hitch mount pull behind trailers, pop up tent trailers, campers meant to be affixed to the beds of trucks, converted vehicles such as buses, trucks or trailers, vehicles designed to be used as temporary dwellings for travel, recreation, business or vacation use, and any other vehicle of any kind mounted on wheels and suitable for human occupancy or business purposes. Such vehicles may be with or without complete kitchen and toilet facilities or self-contained water and sewage systems. "Camper vehicle" does not include mobile homes or manufactured homes.
PERSON: Natural person, partnerships, associations, and all other bodies, corporate or public.
TRACTOR: Any motor vehicle having motive power designed or used for pulling or drawing other motor vehicles, including trailers or semitrailers and designed or used for pulling or drawing another vehicle while carrying a portion of its load, or both, and which is licensed or grossed for thirty two thousand (32,000) pounds' GVW or more either as a single unit or combination thereof.
TRAILER: Any nonself-propelled vehicle or wheeled vehicle, including, but not limited to, semitrailers, boat trailers, water sport vehicle carriers, snowmobile trailers, enclosed cargo trailers, pull type campers, house trailers or any other trailer designed to haul goods or property.
TRUCKS: Any motor vehicle designed for carrying loads on its own chassis and which is licensed or grossed for thirty two thousand (32,000) pounds' GVW or more.
D. Penalty:
1. Parking: It shall be unlawful, within the corporate limits of the City, for any person to park or allow to be parked camper vehicles and trailers described in subsection C of this section on any street, alley, or highway within the City of Sidney, with the following exceptions:
a. Emergency or temporary stopping or parking is permitted on any street, alley or highway for not longer than seventy two (72) hours, provided that such vehicle is self-propelled or attached to a tractor or other vehicle suitable for towing.
b. A trailer which is designed to haul tools and materials and will be used as part of a construction or repair operation. Such a trailer must first be permitted by the City of Sidney. Such permission may be granted after all pertinent information is received by City officials as to description, license, location and dates that such a vehicle is to be parked at the designated site.
2. Abandoned: Any camper vehicle or trailer described in subsection C of this section left standing in violation of this section for a consecutive period longer than seventy two (72) hours shall be considered abandoned.
3. Vicarious And Absolute Accountability: For purposes of the parking regulations of the City, violations of this section shall be subject to the same requirements of subsection 10-2-16C of this chapter regarding vicarious liability except that they shall apply to those vehicles as described in subsection C of this section.
4. Authority To Impound Vehicles, Assess Fees And Towing Costs:
a. The Chief of Police or his designee is hereby authorized to remove any camper vehicle or trailer described in subsection C of this section as amended from any street, alley, public parking lot or any other highway or public right-of-way within the City limits to the nearest garage or other place of safety, or to any garage or place of safety designated or maintained by the City of Sidney for violations of this section.
b. When any camper vehicle or trailer described in subsection C of this section as amended is impounded by the Police Department and stored in a City storage facility a fee of ten dollars ($10.00) per day shall be assessed for each day that the vehicle is stored. Such assessment shall be paid in full before release of said vehicle unless waived for good cause. The owner of any vehicle which may be impounded under this section shall also be responsible for any costs incurred for the towing of a vehicle to the storage facility and any towing costs must also be paid in full before the vehicle is released.
5. Penalty: Any person violating this section shall be subject to a minimum fine of one hundred dollars ($100.00) for a first offense. Thereafter, the fine shall be two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) for a second offense and five hundred dollars ($500.00) for all third or subsequent offenses. (Ord. 565, 5-16-2016)