Lacey City Council members feel blindsided by a county proposal to park RVs near city
Lacey City Council members bemoaned the state of communication between the city and Thurston County on Thursday after the council learned that a site near the city is being considered as a home for those living out of their RVs.
The site is a parcel of land near the corner of Martin Way East and Carpenter Road that was considered as a possible location for a homeless mitigation site in 2019. The land is owned by the county, but is in Lacey’s urban growth area.
The RV proposal apparently emerged during a Regional Housing Council meeting on Wednesday, which was attended by Lacey City Council member Carolyn Cox, the council’s representative to the group, and Lacey City Manager Scott Spence.
Council member Lenny Greenstein serves as the Lacey alternate to the group.
The specifics of the Regional Housing Council meeting were not discussed in detail by the Lacey Council on Thursday, but Cox offered some highlights.
According to Cox, the county is considering allowing 15 to 20 vehicles to park RVs on the site — and possibly only senior citizens. She said the site is viewed as temporary and that County Manager Ramiro Chavez has had initial discussions with a nearby business owner that apparently went well.
Cox also said the county has prepared a communication plan about the site that isn’t quite ready.
Still, even Cox wasn’t thrilled about the process leading up to the proposal.
“Communication has to get better, and I insisted, before you go out with this plan, share it with Lacey,” Cox reiterated. “There’s also the question of law enforcement and how we might be impacted there.”
Other council members agreed.
“I would like to look someone in the eye and ask, ‘Are we going to be partners going forward or what’s going on here?’” said Lacey Mayor Andy Ryder. “Why weren’t we involved if that’s what’s going to happen?” he said about the site.
Greenstein said the lack of communication was made worse when the city heard from neighboring business owners about activity on the site. Greenstein checked with the county and learned that equipment was moved and some previously scheduled work, unrelated to the RV proposal, had taken place on the site.
“It would’ve been nice to get a heads up about it first,” Ryder said.
Councilman Michael Steadman said communication between the city and county is poor.
“Just in general there’s a lack of communication,” he said. “We need to be transparent so we can communicate with our citizens about what’s going on.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2021 at 5:30 AM.
