Striking down one of Coral Gables' symbols of exclusivity, an appellate court told the city that it cannot ban all pickup trucks after dark.

The City Beautiful is going to have to make room for trucks ugly.

In an opinion peppered with jabs at one of Miami-Dade County's most restrictive hamlets, the state Third District Court of Appeal ruled Wednesday that a Coral Gables ordinance prohibiting pickup trucks from parking in residential areas overnight is unconstitutional.

The opinion, written by Senior Judge Alan Schwartz, paraphrases a 1960s folk song popularized by Pete Seeger about cookie-cutter communities: ''Perhaps Coral Gables can require that all its houses be made of ticky-tacky and that they all look just the same, but it cannot mandate that its people are, or do,'' the opinion reads.

``Our nation and way of life are based on a treasured diversity, but Coral Gables punishes it.''

Gables Mayor Don Slesnick was careful to say he respected the court's opinion, but he was taken aback by a ruling that said owners of pickup trucks are important to diversity.

''When I think of diversity, I think of race, color, creed, national origin, sex, etc., etc.,'' he said. ``Ownership of trucks is not within that realm.''

The suit was brought by Lowell Kuvin, who received a $50 ticket in 2003 for parking his Ford F-150 in front of his home overnight. The city ordinance allows residents to own trucks, but they must be kept in garages or outside the city between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. Kuvin didn't have a garage.

`CURSED TRUCK'

The appeals court opinion said the ordinance required Kuvin, a waiter at Joe's Stone Crab at the time, to choose between parking at home in the Gables or moving somewhere else, ``which is what Kuvin, taking his cursed truck with him, actually did.''

The ''cursed truck,'' still owned by Kuvin, is now parked mostly on Venetian Isle in Miami Beach, said Kuvin's attorney and brother, Spencer Kuvin.

The appellate judges ruled that the Coral Gables ordinance, which was written in the 1970s and even forbids trucks parked in private driveways, ``crossed the line into an impermissible interference with the personal rights of its residents.''

Since leaving the Gables, Kuvin has graduated from law school. He and his brother worked on the case together, taking it on because they both believed the ordinance was meant to keep a certain kind of people out of tony Coral Gables.

''When this ordinance went into place, they weren't trying to ban so much a type of vehicle as the class of citizen who drove those vehicles,'' Spencer Kuvin said. The Kuvins grew up in Coral Gables, he said.

'It wasn't about `This vehicle's ugly.' It was about who drives those vehicles and the idea that we don't want those people in our city after dark,'' he added.

`SIMPLY NOT TRUE'

Mayor Slesnick vehemently denies that.

''That's simply not true,'' he said, adding: ``What we do have in Coral Gables is strict zoning codes which have upheld the quality of life in the Gables and the property values in the Gables.''

In a city that restricts paint colors both outside and inside homes, the truck ordinance had achieved symbolic importance: It has even been mentioned in The New York Times as an example of how truly exclusive the Gables is.

The mayor said the city is still considering whether to appeal the ruling.

''The majority of Coral Gables citizens support that ordinance,'' he said.

Kuvin and Robert Glazier, the city's attorney, disagreed on how the ruling might be applied. Kuvin said he thinks it could be extended to homeowners associations if someone ever challenges their rules on pickup trucks.

CITY'S ARGUMENT

Glazier pointed to a footnote in the ruling and said he could argue that it doesn't even apply to other pickup-truck owners in the Gables, much less to other municipalities or homeowners associations.

''It didn't say the ordinance is invalid in every circumstance. For example, it seems clear that if a vehicle is being used for a commercial purpose, it's within the city's authority to regulate that vehicle,'' Glazier said. ``It really comes down to what is a commercial vehicle. Everybody agrees it's proper to regulate commercial vehicles.''

Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood said the F-150 was originally designed as a work truck, but these days about a third of Ford truck buyers use them exclusively as personal vehicles or for recreation.

Asked about the suit, Sherwood said: ``I would definitely tend to side with the F-150 customer who wants to have the same parking privileges as everyone else.''

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