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Suffolk is taking a look at its regulations for truck stops and travel plazas. During a presentation to City Council on June 4, Planning and Community Development Director Kevin Wyne outlined proposed updates to the city’s Unified Development Ordinance that would tighten requirements for new truck stop developments, focusing on onsite parking, safety, and compatibility with surrounding areas.

“We wanted to create some supplemental standards,” Wyne said. “The primary concern is minimizing impacts to adjacent property owners. If trucks don’t have a place to park on the site, they’re going to find somewhere else—often nearby businesses or residential streets—which creates safety issues.”

“So our goal here, like I said, we wanted to create some supplemental standards,” Wyne said. “We wanted to minimize those impacts to adjacent property owners as it relates to trucks. If they don’t have a place to park on your property, they are going find somewhere to park. Oftentimes, that is an adjacent commercial user or a residential street or some other right of way that creates a safety issue for not only the city but its residents.”

Under the current code, a facility with three or more fueling pumps for tractor-trailers is considered a truck stop. The proposed change would simplify that definition: any facility with fueling pumps designed for trucks, regardless of number, would be classified as a truck stop or travel plaza.

The move reflects a shift from quantity to function. “It really comes down to whether the facility serves commercial trucks. If it does, then it should meet the standards,” Wyne said.

Wyne’s presentation included a proposal for tiered truck parking requirements, based on fueling pump count and whether the site includes a certified truck scale. The presence of a scale, he said, correlates closely with full-service stops that often offer amenities like showers, restaurants, and overnight accommodations, generating longer parking stays.

The proposed minimums are as follows:

• Three or fewer fueling lanes with no scale: 4 parking spaces per lane

• More than three lanes with no scale: 5 spaces per lane

• Three or fewer lanes with a truck scale: 6 spaces per lane

• More than three lanes with a scale: 10 spaces per lane

Wyne explained that the initial reaction to the proposed number of truck parking spaces (10) seemed high, prompting further research. To better understand local demand and capacity, they examined nearby truck stops, including the Love’s location in Franklin just off Route 58, which has six fueling stations and approximately 80 truck parking spaces, many regularly occupied. Another example was a facility in Prince George’s County near I-95 on Route 460, which features seven fueling stations and over 70 truck spaces—again, nearly all filled according to aerial imagery. These real-world examples informed their decision-making and helped justify the number of parking spaces proposed in the ordinance. Wyne added that the ordinance would also require truck parking to be accessible whenever the facility is open to the public.

Additional proposed amendments include:

• Landscape buffer where the facility abuts public property, and properties containing residential uses, institutional uses, conservation uses, or recreational uses.
• Allow tractor trailer trucks to be parked on the site overnight with the facility operator’s consent.
• Require parking for passenger vehicles on the site in accordance with the UDO and that these areas will be physically separated from the truck parking areas.
• Amend the definition of ‘TRUCK STOP’ to add Travel Plaza and clarify the definition.

Council member Timothy Johnson voiced support but raised concerns about enforcement and equity across the city, citing a location on Holland Road, where he says, “they do a fairly decent job, but it’s still a mess, and the trucks are not going where they want them to go. They’re parking in the industrial park … How do we actually enforce that?”

Wyne acknowledged that the site Johnson referenced was a “lesson learned” and a real-world example of why this ordinance is important.

Despite efforts to manage it, Johnson went on to say, “It’s still a mess.” Johnson said trucks park in undesignated areas, including industrial parks, rather than using designated truck parking. “They’re not going where they want them to go,” he added. The lack of precise enforcement mechanisms remains a primary issue.

Wyne said the truck stop in question, initially approved through a Conditional Use Permit (CUP), had changed ownership. The new owner pursued an additional CUP for an adjacent property to create overflow parking. 

“They do have site plan approval for that parking lot,” Wyne confirmed, despite environmental constraints such as wetlands that delayed progress. Construction is expected to begin after the Holland Road project is completed.

Mayor Mike Duman questioned why the proposed truck stop ordinance emphasized the presence of a truck scale, suggesting that other amenities, such as restaurants, shower facilities, and sleeping accommodations, more directly influence whether truck drivers stay overnight. 

In response, Wyne explained that while those features are relevant, they are difficult to quantify and regulate from a land use standpoint. Instead, his department found a consistent correlation between the presence of a truck scale and full-service stops that offer overnight accommodations and other services. According to Wyne, this made the truck scale a reliable and objective indicator for determining higher parking requirements. Duman acknowledged the reasoning, noting that using truck scales as a benchmark was a more straightforward standard than trying to define and enforce various on-site amenities. Wyne further illustrated this by comparing the Royal Farms site on Route 58, which lacks a scale and offers fewer services, to the nearby Pilot truck stop, which includes a scale and a broader range of amenities.

The conversation also addressed concerns about truck parking shortages in northern Suffolk, where warehouse development is increasing. Wright emphasized the importance of planning ahead, especially as more distribution facilities are built. They warned that the burden of accommodating truck traffic would increasingly fall on residents and neighborhood streets without adequate infrastructure.

Council Member Shelley Butler Barlow raised the question of whether warehouse operators should share the burden. “We’ve got warehouses bringing these trucks in — do we require them to provide parking?” she asked.

Wyne noted that no such requirement existed prior to the adoption of warehouse standards roughly 18 months ago. However, the current code now requires new warehouse developments to accommodate on-site parking for the truck traffic they generate.