SHARON Zoning appeals board denies truck parking

This is Paul Lapcevich's second battle with the city over the truck ban.
SHARON, Pa. -- The city's Zoning Hearing Board of Appeals has turned down a Cedar Avenue man's request to be allowed to park his tractor-trailer on his property.
Paul Lapcevich's home at 180 Cedar Ave. is in a single-family residential district, and parking of large trucks in that zoning designation is prohibited.
Lapcevich sought a zoning variance that would allow him to park there, but the board of appeals turned him down Tuesday, said Frank Smeraglia, city zoning administrator.
Lapcevich is expected to appeal the decision to Mercer County Common Pleas Court, Smeraglia said.
It wasn't Lapcevich's first challenge of the parking ban.
Sharon enacted the ban in 1994 as part of a parking regulatory ordinance, but Lapcevich and others challenged it in court.
Judge's ruling
They won, and the judge in the case said Sharon's law was improper because it should have been a zoning regulation, not a parking regulation.
Council re-enacted the regulation as part of its zoning law in 1998, but by that time, Lapcevich had built a concrete pad at his home to park his truck and was using it regularly, Smeraglia said.
He said he sent Lapcevich a letter warning him he was in violation of the zoning law, but Lapcevich claimed he was exempt because he was already parking there before it was enacted.
The city disagreed and issued him a citation for violating the zoning ordinance. Lapcevich appealed that citation by seeking a zoning variance, Smeraglia said.
The city has had complaints about big trucks parking in residential areas and has sent numerous warning letters to the operators of those vehicles. Most have complied and stopped bringing the trucks into those areas, he said.