PORT ANGELES — Clallam County commissioners have received a proposal that would prohibit camping in the Deer Park rest area east of Port Angeles.
The three commissioners reviewed a draft ordinance Monday that would restrict camping and limit the use of two county-owned rest areas to eight hours per day.
Abandoned vehicles would be subject to impound after 48 hours, according to the proposal from the county Road Department and sheriff’s office.
“We’re consistently addressing a quality-of-life issue, particularly for the residents on Buchanan Drive, the neighbors to the Deer Park rest area,” Clallam County Chief Criminal Sheriff’s Deputy Brian King told commissioners Monday.
“We encounter lots of needles, abandoned vehicles and, since COVID, camping, and we have no way to enforce and try to mitigate the problems that we’re seeing right now.”
Commissioners are expected next week to schedule a May 19 public hearing on the ordinance.
No in-person attendance is allowed at commissioner meetings under Gov. Jay Inslee’s stay-home order for the COVID-19 crisis.
“If we feel like the situation warrants, and we’ve gotten sufficient public input or whatnot, then we may consider continuing that (May 19) public hearing to a later date,” Board Chairman Mark Ozias said Monday.
“That remains to be seen if that’s necessary or not.”
The proposal would regulate county rest areas at U.S. Highway 101 and Deer Park Road and state Highway 112 and Lower Dam Road. It would align county code with state law.
“This ordinance is just a mirror of those state regulations,” Civil Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Elizabeth Stanley said in the work session.
“There isn’t anything unique at all about this ordinance.”
Stanley said the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a recent case made it “very complicated” to restrict people from sleeping on public property.
Law enforcement must determine that there are no shelters available before issuing a citation for sleeping outdoors on public property, Stanley said.
“Criminalizing any type of homelessness or behavior really will be a last resort,” Stanley said.
“There’s a concern about safety at the rest area, and that’s what’s foremost on everyone’s mind, protecting the public.”
In a later interview, Stanley said there had been no quality-of-life issues reported at the county’s other rest area at state Highway 112 and Lower Dam Road west of Port Angeles.
Clallam County acquired the Deer Park rest area from the state when it completed an underpass connecting Deer Park Road and Buchanan Drive in 2014.
King said the sheriff’s office has removed about 50 junk vehicles from the site in recent years.
“Often times, it’s problematic when folks are living inside of them,” King said.
“We don’t necessarily want to take their home away.”
Deputies work with social worker Amy Miller of the REdisCOVERY program to provide outreach to campers at the Deer Park rest area and elsewhere, King said.
“What we’re facing now is that outreach is falling on deaf ears,” he said.
“They’ve chosen this location to be their home and not take up available shelter space available to them. That’s problematic.”
County Engineer Ross Tyler said people are now camping in vehicles directly in front of the vault toilets at the Deer Park rest area.
“If you’re traveling with your family at 9 o’clock at night, you will not find a place where you’re going to be comfortable pulling in, letting the kids out for 15 minutes to go to the bathroom and leave,” Tyler told commissioners.
“That removes the utility to the traveling public. Without the connection of the utility to the traveling public, we no longer have a way to fund it with road funds.”
The county rest areas are funded with state gas tax revenue to provide the service, Tyler said.
“I’ve got to be able to drive in there, pull into a place and not feel like my kids are going to be stumbling over needles or garbage,” Tyler said.
“Unfortunately, we’re having more and more verbal aggressive interactions between our maintenance person and the people who are there.”
Tyler said the proposal gives law enforcement the “opportunity to work with the homeless community or anybody who happens to be there for over the eight hours.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
