White Center Now: The blog about White Center

From King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn:

On the day the Seattle City Council is scheduled to vote on sweeping new restrictions on recreational vehicle parking, King County Council Vice Chair Reagan Dunn is introducing separate, regional legislation to address hazardous, long-term vehicle parking on roads and public rights-of-way in unincorporated King County.

The proposal responds to Seattle legislation scheduled for a vote on Tuesday that would limit most motor homes and travel trailers without special permits to two hours of street parking and prohibit overnight parking on city streets. Seattle’s proposal also includes new services and a permitting program for people experiencing homelessness who live in vehicles.

Dunn says Seattle’s proposed restrictions raise concerns that people living in RVs could relocate outside city limits, potentially into rural communities where access to shelter, outreach, public transportation, and other homelessness services is more limited. This was the case with the notorious Green River Encampment that plagued a small, unincorporated area between Auburn and Kent and prompted years of public safety concerns and extensive cleanup efforts.

“Seattle’s own decisions and policy failures have created the homelessness and public safety crisis it now faces,” Dunn said. “But families in unincorporated King County should not be forced to shoulder the consequences of Seattle’s failed policies.”

Dunn’s legislation would direct the King County Executive to identify roads where recurring vehicle parking creates public safety hazards or nuisances, install appropriate parking restrictions, and propose enforceable regulations and penalties. It also requests a proposed ordinance establishing a process for booting vehicles with unpaid parking citations and potentially impounding them if their owners fail to pay or establish a payment plan.

Dunn said the County must be prepared to protect the safety and accessibility of its roads while recognizing that homelessness requires coordinated regional solutions.

“We must ensure that one jurisdiction’s enforcement strategy does not become another community’s problem,” Dunn said. “Unincorporated King County residents deserve safe roads, and people struggling deserve real solutions — not simply endless rounds of displacement.”

Seattle’s proposed parking restrictions are scheduled to take effect in 2027 if approved. The legislation advanced out of the Seattle City Council’s Public Safety Committee on September 22.

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