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Overnight RV parking ban goes to Olympia Council

Committee recommends rule despite objections of 40 at meeting

By Matt Batcheldor | The Olympian • Published May 20, 2008

Chambers, who lives in a 1975 model RV on Franklin Street, said Monday afternoon he's trying to turn his life around. With three felonies — two for methamphetamine possession and one for escape — he said it's difficult to find an apartment.

RV regulations

QUESTION: What is the proposed ordinance?

ANSWER: The ordinance would ban RV parking between 3 and 6 a.m. Exceptions could be granted if people obtain a permit, but only for up to 10 days, under specific conditions.

Offenders would face a $75 penalty per offense, and after the third offense, the vehicle could be impounded.

Q: What do other local cities do?

A: Lacey prohibits parking RVs on public streets for more than four hours with one exception: Visitors can temporarily park during daylight hours if they don't obstruct traffic and in areas where there are no parking restrictions. Tumwater bans RV parking on residential streets with some exceptions, but the parking may not exceed seven days, consecutive or not, in a three-month period.

Matt Batcheldor and Christian Hill/The Olympian

"I'm stuck here, all right," he said. He said it's also difficult to find an RV park that will accept him — they have limits on how old an RV can be. One, for example, requires an RV model that's 1993 or newer.

"You got a lot of people that are just trying to survive," fellow camper Robert James Heagy said in an interview. He said he can't find another place to stay because he's a registered Level III sex offender. He said the campers work together to keep the area clean.

Chambers said he gets by on $440 in benefits and is trying to get disability benefits. Heagy added," between me and my girl, we only make $300 a month."

Andrew McQuilken implored the committee. "We're just trying to live," he said, "just like everybody else."

Some residents suggested finding a lot where people could park their RVs legally. They said a city employee visited their home to ask if they would move if the city would supply a piece of land.

Three members of the City Council act as the landuse committee. They were sympathetic but that the full council needed to take up the issue.

Councilwoman Joan Machlis said the city has many unmet housing needs, but city streets aren't set up for permanent living spaces. "I don't believe we should have people living on the streets in our parking areas without sanitary facilities, without water," she said.

Councilwoman Karen Messmer generally agreed with Machlis and said the city isn't equipped to be the sole provider for homeless issues and that the county should take up the issue. The third committee member, Rhenda Strub, was absent.

Machlis said the status quo is not acceptable. "I'm saying that I do not think this is the solution," she said. "I also do not know what the solution is."

Matt Batcheldor covers the city of Olympia for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-704-6869 or mbatcheldor@theolympian.com.

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