August 8, 2017

The Honorable Mike OBrien and Sally Bagshaw

City of Seattle
600 Fourth Avenue
Seattle, WA 98104

Dear Councilmembers OBrien and Bagshaw:

I am writing to provide feedback regarding the Vehicular Living Working Group (VLWG) that met
throughout the Spring of 2017 and will be providing recommendations to the Seattle City Council on
August 9, 2017. The VLWG provided several recommendations, but it is important to note the
recommendations were not supported unanimously by the group. Of particular concern is the creation
of new RV safe parking lots and the relaxing of current parking regulations throughout the City.

The Ballard Alliance is also concerned with the very limited representation of business and residential
leaders on the VLWG. And while the Ballard, Interbay and SODO neighborhoods are three areas in the
City most affected by the RV population, the creation of new RV safe lots would have significant impacts
to business and residential communities located throughout the City. I would encourage the City Council
to convene community, business and residential leaders from throughout the City prior to advancing any
legislative solutions.

The Alliance supports several of the solutions offered by the VLWG including funding to study the
issue, provide outreach and support services to vehicular residents, and an increase of mobile
healthcare services but there are also several proposed solutions that are of serious concern:

The creation of a safe parking program;

Funding scofflaw and other fee mitigation services; and
Developing recreational vehicle campgrounds.

Past attempts at RV Safe lots have proven unsuccessful. The City attempted creation of a limited
number of RV safe lots in 2016. The lots were extremely expensive (approximately $1,750 per vehicle
per month) with minimal success. While new RV lots could potentially build on past City experiences,
there will remain several critical areas of concern:

Public safety within and around the surrounding lots;

Potential negative effects on surrounding businesses and residential areas;
Ability for the City to identify and secure the required number of sites (30 -50) throughout the
City that could accommodate vehicles and work within the context of neighborhoods in which
they would reside;
Ability for the City to manage safe, clean lots throughout the City and ensure that social services
offered are accepted and effective;
 Potential that the City would still have a significant number of RVs parked illegally throughout
the community in addition to 30 50 safe lots;
Potential for this program could attract additional RVs from throughout the region; and
Ability for the City specifically the Seattle Police Department to respond to needs at the safe
lots and, at the same time, effectively respond to illegal RV dwellings that refuse to participate
in the safe lots program.

I would also encourage the City Council to engage in robust conversations with departmental leaders
who would be involved in implementation of any adopted programs, including the Seattle Police
Department, the Seattle Fire Department, the Human Services Department, the Department of
Neighborhoods, the Departments of Transportation, the Department of Finance and Administrative
Services, and Seattle Public Utilities.

Finally, I would encourage the City to keep its focus on creating and funding strategies to provide
permanent housing instead of pursuing expensive, band-aid solutions that will have a negligible effect
upon the Citys housing and homelessness crisis.

Sincerely,

Mike Stewart
Executive Director

Cc:

Mayor Ed Murray
City Councilmember Tim Burgess
City Councilmember Lorena Gonzalez
City Councilmember Bruce Harrell
City Councilmember Lisa Herbold
City Councilmember Rob Johnson
City Councilmember Debora Juarez
City Councilmember Kshama Sawant