Lowell Kuvin and his ticketed pickup. File photo.

Coral Gables’ newly amended truck-parking ordinance will be enforced starting Saturday, Dec. 1, according to the city.

By a 56.81% to 43.19% margin, city voters on Nov. 6 changed the decades-old ordinance that prohibited pickups from being parked overnight in the city’s residential areas.

The amended Zoning Code allows one non-commercial pickup truck to be parked outside of a residence, if the truck bed is empty, if the vehicle has not been modified, has no commercial markings or equipment, and has no more than four wheels.

Estimates place the number of pickup trucks in Coral Gables at about 500.

The issue dates to 2003, when then-resident Lowell Kuvin went to court after being cited for parking his 1993 Ford F-150 pickup on the street in front of his home at night.

Mr. Kuvin, a lawyer, has since moved to Miami Beach; the city had not been enforcing the disputed portion of the ordinance since the challenge began.

In August 2010, the Third District Court of Appeal upheld the city; on May 18, 2011, the Florida Supreme Court declined to review the decision. The city spent approximately $250,000 on the eight-year fight.

After the high court ruling, City Commissioner Maria Anderson, who is in her final term after a decade on the commission, proposed that the Coral Gables Planning and Zoning Department review the ordinance. She called the ordinance archaic and wanted it modified before she leaves office in April.

The Planning and Zoning Board recommended that the rule be modified. In June, the City Commission, at the urging of Mayor Jim Cason, voted 3-2 to put the issue before voters in a referendum.

In a press release distributed Nov. 26, the city said that effective Dec. 1, residents who fail to comply with the amended restrictions will be subject to code enforcement. Fines are $100 for the first violation, and up to $500 for each subsequent violation.

For more information, contact Code Enforcement at 305-460-5226.