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A group reviewing code enforcement issues in Montgomery County on Thursday asked County Council members to hold off on endorsing a plan that would restrict large trucks and recreational vehicles from parking on many public streets until consideration is given to where they can be parked.

The group, which has been working for about a year, expects to issue its recommendation on the question this week.

A bill introduced in June by council President Michael J. Knapp would bar vehicles with any of the following dimensions from parking along county streets on the same block as a residence, playground, church or school: more than 19 feet long; more than 8 feet tall; more than 5 tons gross vehicle weight; and more than a 1-ton capacity.

Knapp and the council have framed the bill as a public safety measure, proposed in the face of increasing complaints of obstructed sight lines, impassable streets and other hazardous situations caused by large trucks and commercial vehicles clogging residential streets.

It has worsened so much in recent years that Capt. Thomas Didone, commander of the 5th District county police station in Germantown, called the issue "probably the number one community concern outside traffic and crime."

The County Council's subcommittee on public safety met Thursday morning with members of County Executive Isiah Leggett's code enforcement work group, which for a year has been reviewing a variety of code issues such as overcrowding and residential parking.

While Leggett has been generally supportive of Knapp's proposed parking restrictions, his work group has focused on defining where large vehicles will be allowed to park, said Tom Street, an assistant chief administrative officer.

The work group also wants to ban RVs from parking along all county roads (Knapp's bill bars them only from residential streets), and makes a distinction between light and heavy commercial vehicles, so that vans, large pickup trucks and panel trucks would not be affected.

A more "holistic" look at parking is necessary in changing times, where people have more vehicles, all of them competing for decreasing parking among ever-increasing development, Street said.

"While we believe there's a lot of similarity, there's also some key differences," he said. "… The policy question becomes: How do you retain the residential character of the neighborhood and still accommodate the lifestyle? …We're trying to make compromises reflecting the realities of today."

Much of Thursday's discussion centered on enforcement. The existing system of county codes — which for example has different standards for trucks parking in driveways and trucks parked on streets, with different agencies responsible for enforcing each — leads to inconsistent action.

And even when a vehicle is said to be parked illegally, something isn't always done.

"Getting the county to enforce the code … is probably more difficult than pulling teeth," said County Councilman Mark Elrich (D-At Large) of Takoma Park. "If all we do is change the code and don't change how we enforce the code, people are going to be really, really unhappy."

Knapp (D-Dist. 2) of Germantown has been meeting with state highway officials about allowing trucks to park in underutilized commuter lots along Interstate 270. So far, he has met mixed results, he said Thursday.

The council's Public Safety Committee will discuss the parking measure at least once more before making a recommendation to the full council, said committee chairman Philip M. Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg.