SEQUIM — Public parking could be limited to 30 days and the city would have more authority to haul off abandoned vehicles under new rules discussed by the City Council on Wednesday.
The city currently has no authority to remove abandoned vehicles that are legally parked, and there’s no limit to how long a vehicle can be left in a public parking spot such as a city street or a city-owned parking lot.
Council members took no immediate action on the proposed ordinance but plan to implement changes at an upcoming meeting.
Still being discussed are restrictions on recreational vehicles and travel trailers parked on residential streets, and the possibility of tighter parking controls downtown.
Most areas of the city don’t have a parking problem, council members said Wednesday, and most people won’t be affected by the proposed changes.
Councilman Bill Huizinga said the new requirements would be a “backup” for other rules.
“As a last resort, we have a tool where we can actually do something,” he said.
Downtown parking
The council discussed limiting some downtown parking to 24 hours at a time.
They also said people shouldn’t be able to park RVs in front of a house for weeks or months on end, although parking for a few days would be acceptable.
State law already allows the city to remove junked vehicles, defined in state law as vehicles that are at least three years old, extensively damaged, inoperable and valuable only as scrap metal.
Those criteria don’t apply to many vehicles that are simply abandoned, however.
