Pacific Ready-Mix, Inc. v. City of Palo Alto

Plaintiff Pacific Ready-Mix, Inc. appeals from a judgment refusing to enjoin defendants City of Palo Alto, its city manager, mayor, chief of police and city council, from enforcing against plaintiff an amended truck ordinance barring the use of the Oregon Avenue Expressway to vehicles exceeding a maximum gross weight of 7 tons.

Plaintiff asserts that a municipal ordinance which closes certain streets to vehicles over a specific weight is valid only if it meets two tests: (1) -the city has authority to enact the ordinance in question, and (2) the ordinance is reasonable. However, plaintiff has elected not to challenge the trial court’s determination that Ordinance No. 2282 was reasonable and has devoted its brief exclusively to the contention that the City of Palo Alto lacked the power or authority to enact an ordinance limiting the use of a county expressway which, according to plaintiff, cannot be deemed within the exclusive jurisdiction of the city.

Plaintiff points out that in the absence of express statutory authorization to do so, a city may not enact an ordinance establishing maximum weight limits upon its streets because the field is one pre-empted by the state. (Atlas…