COMMERCIAL TRUCK PARKING IN SEWARD 

Potential safety hazards and other issues resulting from truck parking on streets in the Seward neighborhood has been an issue for a long time and has become much worse in the last couple of years. Recently, the Seward Neighborhood Group (SNG) together with City Council Member Cam Gordon’s office established a Task Force to find an equitable, affordable, solution to the on street truck parking issues in the neighborhood.

The Truck Parking Task Force met on September 5^th.  Attendance included about 20 business owners, residents, City Public Works staff and Robin Garwood, the policy aide from Council Member Gordon’s office. Business owners discussed their frustrations with semi-trucks parking in front of their businesses not leaving any space for customers and employees, blocking access to driveways or parking areas, causing limited visibility, idling, and other issues.

Robin Garwood then met with the City Attorney and Public Works staff and researched possible ways to further restrict truck parking. This next meeting is a chance for businesses and others to hear the result of that research, specifically details about creating a Special Services District for the Industrial Park that would allow and pay for signage banning commercial truck parking.

Currently, commercial truck parking is only allowed on blocks with industrial or commercial zoning on both sides of the street. Areas where truck parking is allowed are shown in grey on the map above (the Seward Industrial Park, primarily along Minnehaha, and 25th and 26th Streets). Streets where truck parking is prohibited are shown in red on the map below. If trucks are parked on any of these streets, please call 311 to report the trucks. There is also a 311 app available for smart phones that tends to have better results.

SCCA decided to make this special Semi Truck meeting our November membership meeting. Please attend to learn about this issue and help discuss the next steps. If you are not able to attend this meeting, but want to register your support or opposition to a ban on commercial truck parking, or have questions, please contact Hillary at info@sewardbusiness.org.

Have you joined the Seward Longfellow Business Facebook Group? A place for the business community in the Seward and Longfellow neighborhoods of Minneapolis to connect, share ideas, swap job postings and information, and build each other up. Check it out!