City council reviews crime stats and RV ordinance

Here’s a summary of the Sept. 3 meeting of the Federal Way City Council, which included a discussion about local crime statistics, a proposed ordinance related to RV storage, and the city’s homelessness issues.

Crime

Going over crime statistics, Federal Way Police Chief Andy Hwang emphasized the clear changes in several types of crime, specifically those related to the state’s police pursuit law that changed on June 6, 2024.

Overall, Hwang shared that crime has gone down in Federal Way by 10% when looking at January through July 2023 compared to the same time period this year.

Motor vehicle theft has gone down by 47% during that time, he said. Statewide, juvenile violent felony filings, which are up 57% in 2023 vs. 2022, were up 146% in 2023 over 2021.

Drug/narcotics offenses went up by 1,275% due to another policy change, this one recriminalizing drug possession. Hwang clarified that this last number includes arrests and citations, and highlighted the dramatic increase as a positive due to the “drug crisis that is ravaging our region.”

Hwang noted that drug overdoses have gone down by 15% in King County compared to last year. That being said, there have still been 702 overdose deaths this year as of Aug. 6.

During public comment, local resident Dana Mandeville celebrated the change in the pursuit law this year, but called for recognition of the citizen advocacy that led to the change.

“I wanted to say thank you to the chief and our police department and to our citizens because that pursuit law is happening because of us, because of people that told our legislators that it was not okay what was happening,” Mandeville said, adding that “they’re getting credit for what we did.”

RVs

The city council discussed two different ordinance changes related to RVs. First was a first reading of an ordinance that would loosen some regulations about how RVs can be stored on someone’s property.

The amendment is a follow-up to the change in March 2024 that prohibited the parking of RVs on city streets except in residential areas. The new code amendment would also prohibit the parking of RVs on city streets in residential areas, with one exception that would allow parking an RV in front of the RV operator’s home for loading/unloading for a period of 48 hours.

Community member Barbara Marsh, who has spoken at public comment about city’s RV ordinance in the past, specifically advocated for the RV length restriction to be lifted. After hearing that the proposed changes included her feedback, she said: “I’ve tried to go to every hearing on this and I just want to thank the council and all the committees. I feel like I’ve been heard.”

She added that “it’s a really good thing for a city that listens when you have an issue and they take a look at the whole picture, and you know it’s for all the different residents, so I appreciate that.”

Mayor Jim Ferrell said the addition of the changes based on Marsh’s public comments really “shows that the input from the public truly makes a difference, and if she had not brought it up, we would not have taken care of it, so bringing things to the council does accomplish something.”

Marsh took to the podium one more time to add that “my family said you can’t fight City Hall, and obviously you can!”

This was meant to be the final reading and enactment of the ordinance that would ban RVs from being parked on residential streets. Before the council could begin that item, Councilmember Jack Dovey requested that the RV discussion head back to the Land Use Committee for discussion at their Sept. 9 meeting.

There will be time set aside for public comment at this meeting, so members of the public are welcome to attend and share their thoughts.

Homelessness

Several community members spoke about homelessness and discussed challenges at the Day Center, citing trash, overnight camping, open drug use and harassment of a community member donating clothes in the parking lot.

The Day Center opened in 2016 through a grassroots effort of local community members and is run by Catholic Community Services. According to their website, “the Day Center offers showers, laundry, computers, phones, mail reception services, space for meal preparation, a full-service low barrier clinic, access to health care and social services.”

“We’ll make a point of going over there tomorrow,” Ferrell said in response to the comments. He added that he will be meeting with the police chief, Public Works Director EJ Walsh and Community Development Director Keith Niven to discuss the issue and that they’ll “put eyes on it ourselves.”