SEATTLE — It is against the law in Seattle to park a vehicle on the street for more than 72 hours without moving. However, at a popular golf course on Beacon Hill, it appears an RV camp in its parking lot is expanding.
The growing camp of recreational vehicles in the parking lot near city-owned Jefferson Park Golf Course along Beacon Avenue South has some nearby residents concerned.
"Certainly, in the last year, year and a half it's just boomed," said Michael Lowe. "It's probably doubled and tripled, not just the amount of people the materials, the vans are getting bigger and there's tents."
Back in December of last year we first showed you this site, along with Jay Turner, who's owned "Red Bird Sports," located just a couple blocks away, for 36 years.
"To turn a blind eye on that and to let it fester and grow is shameful," said Turner.
Turner was frustrated then, and is even more frustrated now. He appreciates the work the city has done the last couple months at similar encampments across the city, but believes more attention needs to brought to his neighborhood.
"The thing with the south end of Seattle, it seems like it's always been ignored, it's always the last one to see anything," said Turner.
There has been an increase in sweeps, and the city has been re-enforcing the 72-hour parking rule starting back in October 2021, which prohibits a person from parking their vehicle on the same block of a city street for more than 72 hours. Turner said, however, that not much has been done and he is calling on the city once again to step up.
"Since October 2021, there have been about 3,500 citations written in relation to the 72 hour rule, and about 1,800 unoccupied or abandoned vehicles impounded due to the 72-hour rule," A spokesperson from SDOT told KING 5. "For most of that time period we were focused on unoccupied, abandoned and hazardous vehicles. So that status is generally not referring to vehicles which someone is living in."
Officials with Seattle Public Utilities said they did a "thorough clean" last week, disposing over three thousand pounds of trash and debris at the site
The site is on the list for an upcoming remediation according to SPU spokesperson Sabrina Register. No timeline was given, however.
"During RV remediations, the city first provides warning and encourages people to move their vehicles in order to avoid receiving a citation or having their vehicle impounded," Register added. "If a person is living in a vehicle, then we will make multiple attempts to notify or talk to that person to encourage them to move their vehicle. Impoundment will only occur as a last resort if a person ignores the warnings and refuses to temporarily move while SPU performs the remediation."