Minor’s trailers given the boot from Bay Street

If you’re like many people, you probably didn’t give it a second thought last summer when the Port Orchard City Council passed an ordinance prohibiting the parking of commercial vehicles in residential or mixed-use zones for more than 72 hours. After all, how many Port Orchard neighborhoods are plagued by the curse of too many tractor trailers parked long-term on their streets?

Turns out the council was far less concerned about the problem in residential areas than it was in “mixed-use” areas. To be more specific, the new ordinance has Howard Minor’s name all over it, since city code enforcement officials were able to use it to force the retired Port Orchard dentist to move the three abandoned shipping containers he’s stored in the parking lot behind Bay Street’s J.A. Michaels restaurant for the past six years.

City officials and Bay Street boosters have always felt the containers gave a blighted look to the downtown — particularly for visitors arriving on the Horluck Ferry or by private boat docking at the Port Orchard Marina — and they’ve waged a spirited campaign to force Minor to remove them.

But Minor, who owns the property on which they were stored, resisted for years.

Until last week.

Facing the prospect of fines of up to $250 per day per violation, Minor finally relented and had the container trucks hauled to an undisclosed location. He also relocated several abandoned delivery trucks he had been storing in an empty lot he owns on Melcher Street.

It should be noted Minor wasn’t the only commercial vehicle owner affected by the new ordinance, but he was the most egregious offender. Of the total of nine vehicles moved since the law was passed, Minor owns seven.

All of this sounds like a happy outcome or everyone. The city finally gets rid of Minor’s containers and Minor gets the satisfaction of knowing he drove the council crazy for six years.

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