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Marilyn Piety says large trucks parking on the narrow streets of her Silver Spring neighborhood are unsafe and can affect the quality of life for herself and her neighbors.

Other Montgomery County residents share the same concerns and say their quality of life is being hindered by noisy commercial vehicles parked on neighborhood streets, neighbors who park vehicles in their front yards or pave over their yards and homeowners who start but never finish construction projects.

"These kinds of issues can destroy a neighborhood in no time flat," said Piety, a member of the Sligo-Branview Community Association.

Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) says the County Council has been too slow in responding to several code enforcement issues that would ban these practices and others.

However, council members say that Leggett's proposals could have unintended consequences that could hurt residents, and members are weighing their decisions carefully.

"It's better to be deliberate and get things right than rush things," said council President Philip M. Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg.

Leggett organized a press conference Nov. 18 to urge council members to act on two bills and one zoning text amendment introduced May 5.

Those bills would limit the length of time residential construction projects can take to complete and speed the process for resolving code violations. The amendment would make it illegal for large commercial vehicles to park in neighborhoods and would limit the paving of front yards. The council amended the measure to ban small tow trucks, a restriction opposed by Leggett.

"It's time for them to act," Leggett said of the council.

House Majority Leader Del. Kumar P. Barve (D-Dist. 17) of Gaithersburg joined Leggett for the press conference, along with Councilwoman Duchy Trachtenberg (D-At large) of North Bethesda and a representative for Councilman Marc Elrich (D-At large) of Takoma Park.

Leggett said the legislation has been stalled in committee. Councilman Michael J. Knapp (D-Dist. 2) of Germantown, who chairs the committee considering the code enforcement bills, said the committee already has passed Leggett's proposals.

However, the full council had additional questions for Leggett and sent the measures back to the committee for review, Knapp said.

Among the council's chief concerns was whether Leggett's restriction on commercial vehicles would allow a small business owner to park his commercial vehicles in his own driveway.

Knapp said council members also are worried that Leggett's proposed time limit to finish residential construction has no contingency for projects that are not finished on time.

"OK, sounds nice, sounds rational," Knapp said. "So, when the building permit expires, what do you do? So, do you have them tear the structure down? Does the county finish the structure?"

These are the types of questions Knapp said the council is asking Leggett to answer before they will discuss his proposals.

"This is not a straightforward piece of simple legislation," Knapp said. "There are implications good and bad for different neighborhoods. There are a lot of unanswered questions that the executive branch has to try to find the answers to."

Patrick Lacefield, a county spokesman, said Leggett has received some questions from council members and has answered them.

The county's Board of Appeals also has been critical of Leggett's proposed code enforcement changes. A call to the board was not returned.

The County Council passed one of Leggett's proposed bills last month. It limits the storage of inoperable, unused and unregistered vehicles in residential neighborhoods to 30 days.

All four measures were proposed in May and were the result of a yearlong study by a work group. The 74-page report was released a year ago and recommended a multitude of changes, including many that have been handled without legislation.

Leggett said Nov. 18 that it was time for the council to vote on the remaining measures. Leggett would like to see the council vote before its holiday recess, which begins Dec. 14, a spokeswoman said.

Knapp said that is unlikely. His committee already is meeting three times each week to discuss master plans and other issues, he said.

"[Leggett] says these are important," Knapp said of the code enforcement measures. "Well, there are other things the county executive also thinks are important, like the Gaithersburg West master plan."

Lacefield said the council could take up the code enforcement measures in the midst of master plan discussions.

"I understand there are a lot of things going on," he said. "But moving these things forward can only be good because they are quality of life issues."

Councilwoman Nancy M. Floreen (D-At large) said she was surprised by Leggett's announcement that the council was taking too long to act, saying she had not been told Leggett was concerned over the pace.

"We were startled that there would be a press conference," she said. "A phone call would be a better start."

Floreen said the committee is aware that it will need to address the code enforcement issues, but first it wants to examine the unintended consequences of Leggett's legislation.

Of Trachtenberg's appearance at Leggett's press conference, Floreen said, "I've never seen Ms. Trachtenberg at a committee meeting. That's good that she's interested."