Maple Ridge council is pumping the brakes on a trucking operation in Hammond.
On Tuesday, council convened a meeting to discuss the business licence for Chohan Carriers, operating on Wharf Street in Hammond.
The trucking company had been operating without a business licence, and Hammond residents have complained about big trucks rolling down their narrow streets.
When a truck flipped on its side into a ditch in Hammond on Friday, the city bylaws department closed Wharf Street to trucks, putting up concrete barriers.
At the meeting, council unanimously voted to deny the business licence to Chohan.
“We have some real concerns, when you have that much truck traffic in a residential neighbourhood, overturns, and operating without a business licence,” said Mayor Nicole Read.
She said council saw a lot of issues “stacking up” against the business licence application.
Read added that the image of a flipped semi truck and trailer in a residential neighbourhood was shocking to councillors.
“We need to think about our residents in Hammond. Their safety is the first priority.”
She said council has not put the company out of business, because the proprietors have a right to appeal the denial, and will do so.
That hearing will be held on Monday, March 20. The applicant has given the city a guarantee that the business will not be in operation until the hearing.
The owner requested he be allowed to remove the rest of his trailers from the site. The city has granted this request and bylaw officers were on site monitoring the situation to ensure the trailer removal is done safely.
All truck traffic was to cease as of 3 p.m. on Wednesday.
Read said a potential solution would be a planned new road from Wharf Street that bypassed the residential streets of Hammond, running parallel to the Golden Ears Bridge.
However, that road will not likely be built until property owned by Aquilini Investment Group is developed in the industrial park.