The city of Aberdeen is looking to restrict the recreational vehicle, boat and trailer parking that exists around town.

Ruth Clemens, Aberdeen’s city administrator, already has proof that shows limiting parking for such vehicles can be done. It’s because Lacey already has ordinances in place to do so and that city has found success.

Clemens called it “a long-awaited,” presentation.

“One of the things we had been waiting for outside of the Grants Pass (decision) or Johnson v. Grants Pass case was Potter v. City of Lacey, which came soon after the ruling on Grants Pass, which affirmed the authority cities have to enact and enforce parking regulation,” Clemens said. “We also have Aberdeen Municipal Code Title 10 that was impacted, which didn’t allow us to address people living in their vehicles around the city. But I think what we’re proposing today would also address not only that, but other RVs parked around the city on the city streets.”

The recommendation Clemens brought Wednesday night to Aberdeen City Council was to amend and create a new section to Aberdeen Municipal Code Chapter 10.20 to “define new restrictions for the parking of commercial and recreational vehicles within the city.” The amended ordinance will be brought to the next city council meeting.

Clemens said “this piece of legislation and program come from a recommendation of the city’s Homelessness Response Committee.”

“The HRC has worked together so well to come up with viable solutions to address homelessness and its impacts,” Clemens said. “This legislation is about RV parking all over the city, not just unhoused individuals. This will impact residents as well.”

Residential program

Clemens said the first part of this is regarding a “residential program.” And the policy she provided is just a draft.

“One of the things we wanted to be really careful of is we wanted it to mirror exactly what the city of Lacey is doing, because that is what has been held up in court,” Clemens said. “Any additions or changes we want to propose to it, we put ourselves at risk for a lawsuit. I just want to emphasize that it’s very important that we try to mirror what it is exactly that Lacey is doing.”

The residential program would do the following:

Limit RVs, trailers and boat trailers from parking all over the city streets to four hours

Residents may park temporarily for the purpose of loading and unloading for a reasonable amount of time, so long as it does not impede traffic

“If you need a little bit longer, say you need 48 hours, we could extend it to about 48 hours, you could receive a temporary permit and it should be affixed to the window and clearly displayed,” said Clemens, who added that would “impact everyone.”

Non-resident program

The other portion of the proposed policy is a non-resident program, which would “require a safe parking place.”

“The place we would like to recommend to all of you is the city hall parking lot,” Clemens said. “I know there is a lot of heartburn still there from the TASL (Temporary Alternative Shelter Location). So I just want to reassure you that this is very different than TASL. This would just allow people a place to park from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. It would also have a porta-potty on site and a hand-washing station similar again that mirrors what Lacey uses. Lacey uses their city hall parking lot as well.”

Clemens said the porta-potty would be locked during the day. It would be reopened by an Aberdeen Police officer.

“I talked to Chief (Green) yesterday, (they) would handle unlocking it and locking the facility,” Clemens said. “APD will patrol the site. APD will conduct the background checks for those individuals who want to stay there. And they will lock and unlock the on-site restroom facilities as stated.”

To be able to park on the TASL site, visitors require a permit. To get a permit, they must be engaged with social services. They must have a government-issued driver’s license or ID. There may be more than one person staying in the RV. All people in the RV must have a government-issued ID. They must have valid vehicle insurance, valid vehicle registration and their vehicle must meet all standards and requirements to legally operate.

“They must also undergo a background check completed by Aberdeen Police Department,” Clemens said. “They can’t have any outstanding warrants from any jurisdiction and they must not be a registered sex offender.”

Clemens said the permits must be clearly displayed, campers and trailers must remain connected to their vehicles and no cords, no plugging in, no hoses, no awnings or anything, no sleeping or hanging outside the vehicle or anything like that will be permitted.

As for resource engagement, the city will contract with a community resource group to engage daily with non-residents using the safe parking location.

“Similar to what Destination Hope and Recovery is already doing,” Clemens said. “Destination Hope and Recovery, they will engage with homeless folks and they will try to get them enrolled in programs, get them treatment, get them whatever they need basically. They are required if they are going to stay on-site, we would issue a referral to a community resource group who would then come on-site and start the interaction. Start the process of getting them enrolled. That is a requirement to stay on-site.”

Clemens said that could look like:

Case management

Health insurance navigation

Recovery navigation

Employment case management

Housing case management

She said “that team,” combined with APD would be called the “mobile outreach team.”

Violations

Commercial or recreational vehicle parking violation, four-hour parking violation: $40

Vehicles that have people actively living in them, who have not moved their vehicles, those vehicles will be towed

“Having this program and having this safe parking place will allow us to tow RVs,” Clemens said. “I know that’s been a great burden for the council as well as the community, so this is the way we can do that. I will state the city of Lacey maybe will have one person take them up on it, because most of the time their vehicle’s not registered (and) they basically have left town. The people who genuinely want to engage, who genuinely want help will use it. They said at the peak, when we spoke to the city of Lacey, at the peak of its usage, they had five motor homes use the space.”

The program can work

Clemens said she went with Aberdeen City councilors Deb Hodgkin and Debi Pieraccini to Lacey.

“We spoke with the two officers, their chief of police and then the officer who actually runs the program and their having great success within the city,” Clemens said.

Before the city council approved the amendment to be brought forth to the next city council meeting, there was a short discussion.

City Council weighs in

Stan Sidor, Aberdeen city councilor, wanted clarification on how long the permits will last.

“Where do they go the rest of the day, what kind of enforcement mechanism will we have for that, are they just going to park on a city street somewhere?” Sidor asked.

Clemens said “for four hours at a time, yes.”

“For four hours at a time,” Clemens said before clarifying. “That is their right. … This is the way the city of Lacey has it, you can park for four hours but you have to leave for 24 hours, and then you can come back.”

Pieraccini said to get a permit for Temporary Alternative Shelter Location, the people have to apply for a permit every day.

“If I were gonna camp tonight, I would have to go to the police station and get a permit for tonight. And then tomorrow you get a new permit,” Pieraccini said.

The permit is free, but Pieraccini said it’s to know who’s parked out in the city hall parking lot.

This won’t affect apartment dwellers who park off-site. It only affects, RVs, trailers and boats.

Kacey Ann Morrison, Aberdeen city councilor, asked how many times can someone receive a $40 violation before they’re towed. Clemens had to see with Aberdeen’s Code Enforcement about that and that she’d get back to Morrison.

“The other issue, I know that towing of RVs has been an issue in the past,” Morrison said. “Has that been figured out?”

Clemens said the issue Morrison asked about has been figured out.

As for where to store the towed vehicles, Clemens said they have a place but she’d “rather not say.” Clemens also addressed how those vehicle owners can get back their towed vehicles.

“In order for people to get their vehicles back, they have to show proof of ownership, title,” Clemens said. “The city of Lacey has discovered that most people don’t try to retrieve their vehicles because they don’t have that info.”

Sidor approved the work of Clemens and his fellow colleagues on the issue.

“It’s a long time coming, I think it’s important, it’s good,” Sidor said. “I really appreciate the efforts that City Administrator Clemens and council members Pieraccini and Hodgkin took to take the time to go to Lacey and talk to them about their program. I think the citizens (of Aberdeen) will, hopefully they should react positively to this. It’s been a long time coming. Many citizens have expressed a lot of concern and aggravation about RVs camping around the city.”

Clemens said the size of the RVs could delay things.

“We have to contract that out, depending on how long the RV is we might have to contract outside the county for that sort of thing,” Clemens said. “Another element that’s kind of taken us a little bit of time is finding a group that was willing to be the mobile outreach team. We feel we found a group that’s willing to do it. There might be a way, because they have to be compensated some way, I think we might be able to use opioid funds to kind of cover this one. I think it would be an appropriate use.”

Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.