Overnight RV parking in Hawks Prairie likely won’t happen, Lacey officials say
City of Lacey officials, including Mayor Andy Ryder, announced Wednesday night that a plan to temporarily allow overnight parking of RVs in Hawks Prairie likely won’t happen.
That was welcome news to about 100 people who filled City Council chambers to learn more about the plan to allow people living in vehicles to park on Main Street in northeast Lacey, an unfinished road north of Interstate 5 and west of Marvin Road.
The reasons the site likely won’t open were public opposition to the plan and a recently passed parking ordinance that has suddenly eliminated a number of RVs parked at Lacey City Hall.
Over the summer, as many as 30 RVs called the lot home, but now they’re gone, Ryder said.
“If we don’t have RVs and trailers violating the parking ordinance, I don’t know why we would ever open up Main Street to RVs and trailers,” he told the audience.
The news came about halfway through the nearly three-hour-long meeting. The rest of it was spent on comments and questions from the audience. Members of Lacey City Council, City Manager Scott Spence, City Attorney Dave Schneider and police Chief Ken Semko were on hand to answer those questions.
They also spent a lot of time trying to chip away at the misinformation and confusion about a variety of steps the city has taken to address homelessness.
The city passed a public camping ban over the summer, followed by a parking ordinance that doesn’t allow an RV or commercial vehicle to park for more than four hours on public property.
Although the city passed a public camping ban, it can’t be enforced because of a federal court ruling. In Martin v. Boise, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said if a city doesn’t have a place to send homeless people, enforcing a camping ban violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
The City Council is also set to consider whether to expand the types of groups that could host a homeless encampment under its emergency housing ordinance. If approved, churches, nonprofits and the city could all hosts camp.
The Lacey Planning Commission has recommended the change but the council has yet to vote on it.
Public comment Wednesday was overwhelmingly against the Main Street proposal. Some asked more than once whether the proposal really wasn’t going to happen.
Although RVs are no longer parking at City Hall, people are still living out of their cars there, Spence said. However, to force them to move brushes up against Martin v. Boise, which means the city would still need to find a destination for them.
For that reason, Main Street remains a “potential resource,” he said. He added he would follow council’s direction on the issue. He expects that to happen in November.
Peggy Madsen of Lacey said the city needs to be more transparent about a confusing process.
“We speak at public comment (during City Council meetings) and the City Council just sits there,” she said. “We never get any feedback and it gives rise to anger and distrust. We want to trust you.”
This story was originally published October 17, 2019 at 7:00 AM.
