EVERETT — The Snohomish County Council unanimously approved two ordinances Wednesday to address “nuisance” recreational vehicles on public roads in unincorporated parts of the county.
One ordinance limits RV parking on public roads to 72 hours, after which violators may receive a notice and risk impoundment. A second ordinance allows the county to use its nuisance properties abatement fund to cover the cost of enforcing nuisance RVs.
The council passed the ordinances, sponsored by council member Nate Nehring, unanimously. The county’s Office of Neighborhoods, which pairs law enforcement officers with social workers, will take the lead on enforcing the new law.
“Our Office of Neighborhood deputies, along with Snohomish County Human Services, will continue to offer resources to those in need, and will utilize this ordinance to improve neighborhood safety,” Snohomish County Sheriff Susanna Johnson said in a press release Wednesday.
The idea for the ordinance began a couple of years ago, Nehring said in an interview Thursday, when county officials started receiving several emails from concerned residents. People living in unincorporated Snohomish County noticed RVs that were almost permanently parked in the county right of way and raised concerns about potential safety hazards, criminal activity and drug-related activity.
Nehring went on a series of ride-alongs with the Office of Neighborhoods, public works and other sheriff’s office employees to get a sense of the issue. He said that while the county does great work connecting people living in nuisance RVs to services, the gap in the county code makes it difficult to enforce parking.
“It’s sort of that balanced approach of making sure we’ve got resources available for people who are in these situations to be able to get them off the street, but also not tolerating derelict RVs being able to be parked everywhere,” Nehring said.
Under state law, law enforcement officers are allowed to tag RVs, notifying violators they have 24 hours before the vehicle is impounded. The new county ordinances allow for another level of enforcement, Nehring said, consistent with cities throughout the county.
“So it’s not as if right now we can’t do anything,” he said. “There are things which can be done, but this just adds a tool in the tool belt to make it a little bit of a smoother process.”
Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.
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