Ordinance Bans Heavy Trucks

The Rolling Hills Estates City Council on Tuesday adopted an ordinance banning trucks with a gross weight of more than 6,000 pounds from Palos Verdes Drive North from the city boundary on the west to Palos Verdes Drive East, where the street widens; Rolling Hills Road from Palos Verdes Drive North to the north city limit; northbound lanes of Crenshaw from Silver Spur Road to the north city limit, and Silver Spur Road between Hawthorne and Palos Verdes Drive North.

The ordinance, which takes effect Sept. 5, allows trucks conducting business in the city to use Palos Verdes Drive North until June 30, 1990. The nine-month exemption on Palos Verdes Drive North was made at the request of Chandler’s Sand & Gravel Co., which is pouring concrete for the new Peninsula Center post office in the city and uses the route to get to the construction site.

Four members of the council agreed to extend the exemption for Chandler because they believed it unfair to penalize a local company building a post office the city fought for. Councilwoman Jacki McGuire voted against the ordinance because she wanted the ban imposed on all streets immediately.

“I’m interested in the safety and welfare of the residents,” McGuire said after Tuesday night’s meeting.

Rolling Hills Estates and neighboring Palos Verdes Estates have imposed heavy-truck bans because officials are concerned about trucks using their streets, many of which are residential, to haul material to and from large developments being planned in Rancho Palos Verdes.