PORT ANGELES — A proposal to allow people to live in RVs or campers on private property as a temporary fix to the housing shortage in Port Angeles will be reviewed by the city Planning Commission.
A 4-3 majority of the Port Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to send the idea to the land-use advisory board for a review and recommendation back to the council.
Councilman Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin floated a draft ordinance that would allow temporary use permits for temporary dwellings in approved RVs and recreational park trailers during the current housing shortage.
“I appreciate the comments that some people have made about ‘This is not ideal’ and ‘This is not what we want,’” Schromen-Wawrin said during a robust council discussion.
“But I think that it’s better than people living in cars and people living in tents and people living in creek valleys, which is what we have now.”
Mayor Sissi Bruch, Deputy Mayor Kate Dexter and Councilmen Jim Moran and Schromen-Wawrin voted to forward the proposal to the Planning Commission.
Council members Mike French, Cherie Kidd and Michael Merideth voted no.
“I didn’t purchase my home, I didn’t build my home, to wake up in the morning and come across the street and see somebody living in a motor home,” Merideth said.
“When you drive Marine Drive — yes I drive down there every morning — I see the biggest pieces of crap parked down there on the road.”
Schromen-Wawrin said he drafted the ordinance as a “quick way to get more people housed” amid the current housing crunch.
Clallam County’s rental vacancy rate plummeted from about 11 percent in 2010 to 1.8 percent in 2016, according to U.S. Census American Communities Survey data that Schromen-Wawrin provided to the council.
An ideal rental vacancy rate is about 6 percent, Schromen-Wawrin said.
The proposal to allow certified RVs and campers as temporary homes with annual permits would expire in three years.
It would require the applicant to provide for electricity, water and side sewer connections. Since the ordinance would be temporary, extension cords and water hoses from outdoor faucets would be allowed.
“The city recognizes that these structures are not permanent housing,” the draft ordinance says.
“However, relative to dwelling in cars, tents or other structures, these structures can provide more security for people who are otherwise unable to find permanent housing.”
Moran, Kidd and Merideth took issue with the proposal being introduced as an ordinance prior to a council discussion, staff review or vetting from the Planning Commission.
“We should have this concept go to the Planning Commission to start out with,” Moran said.
Given the Planning Commission’s commitment to a comprehensive plan update — and a requisite staff analysis of the RV housing proposal — Community and Economic Development Director Nathan West said it would likely take four months for the ordinance to be ready for council consideration.
“Since this has wide-reaching impact, all departments must have input on that, including fire, police, economic development, legal and so forth,” Moran said.
“The way that this was brought forward was not right.”
Schromen-Wawrin said he had discussed the proposal with Bruch, Dexter and key staff but could not discuss it with other council members outside of a public meeting under the Open Public Meetings Act.
“I think that this has enough merit to warrant some more information from staff,” Dexter said.
“One of my concerns is what kind of staff time would we be looking at for the permitting process, that sort of thing.”
Other council members said they were unprepared to discuss the proposal because they had not had a chance to review it.
“I feel like we skipped 100 steps, went from A to Z and we’re going to be discussing Z,” Kidd said.
“I don’t want to give incomplete information to the public on a topic that is so comprehensive.”
Later in the meeting, Kidd said the proposal was “filled with landmines” and would exasperate existing code compliance issues.
“This is not temporary,” Kidd added. “This is permanent.”
Merideth raised safety concerns about fires caused by space heaters and shoddy insulation in RVs and campers.
“They’re kindling boxes,” Merideth said. “That is what they are. They can go up in a moment’s notice.”
Merideth said the city should be encouraging the kind of affordable housing that Peninsula Housing Authority is redeveloping at its Mount Angeles View neighborhood.
At one point, Moran moved to call for a vote on his motion to send the proposal to the Planning Commission.
The call for question failed to gain the 5-2 supermajority it needed to end discussion.
French said he was “very much torn” on the issue.
“To me, this discussion underscores the need for the housing needs assessment to be a top priority,” French said.
“I don’t want to take staff time away from something that could provide a really good direction on how to proceed.”
Bruch, who works as a senior planner for the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, said the proposal raised a “bunch of red flags” upon her initial reading.
“As soon as you do something temporary, it becomes permanent,” said Bruch, who decided the idea was worth a Planning Commission review.
Before the discussing the merits of the proposal, council members debated the process by which ideas are moved from concept to ordinance.
“I heard about this though the grapevine,” Merideth said. “I’d prefer that we don’t go (down) that path again.”
Kidd, the longest serving council member, said ordinances should be drafted by the city attorney at the direction of the council.
“We can all bring ideas, but if we all start writing the ordinance we’re going to absolutely get mired down in confusion and creating problems,” Kidd said.
French countered that, as the legislative body, it is the council’s job to propagate laws.
“I want to be clear that our interest is in transparency,” French said.
Bruch said ideas should be floated in think tank sessions to determine whether there is support for a staff review.
“Whether it comes written in a napkin or whether it comes written as an ordinance, I don’t think it matters because we all use different language,” Bruch said, noting that Schromen-Wawrin is an attorney.
City Manager Dan McKeen recommended that proposals be vetted by staff before they become draft ordinances.
“Once an ordinance goes out in the community, even if it’s only presented by one council member, it starts creating an expectation in the community,” McKeen said.
“Also, even more fundamental than that, we do have municipal attorneys on staff that work for you.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
