THE VILLAGE, Okla. – Mark Bishop parks his bucket truck in his Village driveway.

He uses it for his tree trimming business.

He was alarmed to hear the city council was discussing potential changes to ordinances regarding parking boats, RVs, trailers and large trucks in driveways.

“Mainly, it affects the working man, you know, and we’re a blue collar town,” Bishop said. “I’m not the only person who has a one ton or larger truck. There are other people. There’s boats and trailers. We’re a boat and trailer community.”

The Village city council held a special meeting at lunchtime on Monday to look at the very issue.

“In many cases, we’re less restrictive than Oklahoma City even,” The Village city manager, Bruce Stone, told the council members. “We don’t really have a whole lot of regulation about parking these in the driveways or the side of the house or anything of that nature.”

The city manager said, over the last year, they’ve received numerous complaints from residents ranging from things like public safety to the way it makes the city look.

He drove the city limits taking pictures of different examples for the city council to examine.

“The main issue is do you want to allow trailers? And, which ones do you want to allow? Which ones do you not want to allow? Or, just keep it as we have?” Stone asked the council members.

At least one city council member questioned why anything would need to change.

“I think, as I see these right now, I need somebody to tell me why we need to change anything, if we need to?” questioned Bubba Symes.

Monday’s meeting was for discussion only – no votes were taken.

And, council members only talked about regulating some minor things, like making size requirements for boats and not allowing trailers to encroach into the right of way.

“Our goal is to find that middle ground of what works, because we’re reasonable and rational,” said councilman Sonny Wilkinson.

For now, Bishop’s bucket truck is safe.

“I think the city made a good decision,” Bishop said.

And, other residents in The Village are now relieved they don’t have to scramble to find other accommodations.

“My side of The Village, a lot of us are tradespeople. We have trucks of all kinds and sizes and colors, and we’ve got trailers and some of us have boats and stuff. And, if they were going to try to eliminate that, some of us would be in a big bind what to do with them,” said Brad Tankersley.

The Village city attorney will take the council’s recommendations from Monday’s meeting and draft a potential new ordinance that could be voted on at a later city council meeting.