Cheyenne Oversize Vehicle Ban Moves Forward In Committee

An ordinance that would ban oversize vehicles from parking on Cheyenne streets for more than 72 hours will move on to second reading in the Cheyenne City Council next week.

The proposal passed the Committee of the Whole on Wednesday night, albeit with a proposed amendment to extend the limit dying on a tie vote and numerous questions about enforcemnt being raised.

You can read the proposed ordinance here.

You can see a video of the Committee Of The Whole meeting below.

The proposed law would ban parking oversized vehicles on city streets for more than 72 hours, allowing for the purpose of loading, unloading, winterizing or de-winterizing the vehicle.

Definitions Of Oversized Vehicles

The proposal defines 'oversized vehicle": "Oversized vehicle" shall mean any vehicle or any combination of vehicles which exceeds twenty-five (25) feet in length, seven (7) feet in width or eight (8) feet in height, exclusive of projecting lights and other devices allowed by title 31, chapter 5, article 9 of Wyoming statutes. "Oversized vehicle" shall not include any tractor unit subject to Section 10.52.020 of the Cheyenne city code;"

Councilwoman Michelle Aldrich, one of the co-sponsors of the proposal, put forward and amendment to extend the limit to 120 hours, or five days. That amendment was defeated on a 4-4 tie vote.

During discussion, Ward II Councilman Bryan Cook said he ''still has a lot of questions" about the ordinance. He said he would support it for now with the understanding that there will still be plenty of opportunity for furtther discussion and possible amendments. He noted the proposal has '' a lot of moving parts" and said it will need a lot of work before he can vote for it on third and final reading.

Councilman Tom Segrave raised questions about the impact of the ordinance during Cheyenne Frontier Days, asking if visitors who park vehicles during Cheyenne Frontier Days will be cited and potentially have their vehicles towed. Segrave floated the idea of adding a start and end date to the ordinance so that it would not be in effect during the summer. ''As we look at this over the next couple of weeks, I would like to consider the time frame and how we handle it during Frontier Days" Segrave said.

Captain David Janes of the Cheyenne Police Department said tracking the time a vehicle has been on the street would be a challenge from an enforcement standpoint. He said enforcement would likely fall on compliance officers and ''It would be very difficult to track the time. ''So a lot of that would fall on complaints by neighbors and things like that."

Councilman Pete Laybourn said of enforcing the ordinance "I don't think we have the capacity to deal with thousands of vehicles.'' But Aldrich countered that "I don't believe that we are talking about thousands of vehicles.''

The committee approved the ordinance on a voice vote. It now goes on to second reading before the full council. It would have to pass three readings to become law.