A proposed zoning amendment in Phoenix would allow large truckstops to be built along the city’s 70 miles of interstate freeways, but critics say the last thing the city needs is idling trucks emitting diesel exhaust into the air.

According to the Arizona Republic, David Feuerherd of the American Lung Association of Arizona says council members should be banning the truck stops, not building them. He calls diesel pollution "deadly in a city that hasn’t met federal health standards for clean air."
Supporters of the amendment say the proposal will help regulate truckstops by limiting them to freeways and eliminating those that could be located near a residential area, and at the same time aid in economic developement.
Truckstops are currently permitted in industrially zoned parcels. The proposed amendment would allow truckstops on some classes of commercially zoned land as well as industrial sites, but restricts them to within a quarter-mile of Interstates 10 and 17. Also in the proposed amendment:
* Sites may range from 10 acres to 60 acres;
* No more than two truckstops may exist, with a total of 80 acres, at any interchange;
* Where two truckstops exist at one interchange, another one can't be built within 2 miles;
* Sites must have a 200- to 600-foot setback from residentially zoned property, depending on size;
* There must be an 8-foot masonry wall between the truckstop and developed property.
The city council will hold a hearing on the amendment September 20.