An amendment to a city ordinance on RV regulations will most likely be enacted after the Federal Way City Council meeting Sept. 3.
The amendment was forward to a second reading during the Aug. 13 meeing and 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.
A companion code amendment will be presented at the next city council meeting in September that will simultaneously loosen regulations of storage of RVs on personal property, such as “in your side yard or even your backyard in addition to in your driveway,” as Councilmember Jack Dovey explained during the Aug. 13 meeting.
During discussion of the amendment, Councilmember Lydia Assefa-Dawson shared concerns about the financial burden the city is placing on RV owners who may have a new monthly cost with the code amendment.
“My concern about this is I think we’re adding an undue burden on people who do own these homes because now we want them to put them in storage,” Assefa-Dawson said.
She suggested an alternative solution that would allow owners of motorhomes to park them in front of their homes if they have a license of some kind. Throwing out ideas on alternatives, she suggested a program where a sticker could indicate that a motorhome is allowed to be parked on the street and those without the appropriate sticker could be fined.
Assefa-Dawson said she does not agree with “blanket disallowing” because “if someone buys an RV they want to enjoy it whenever they want and park it where they want as long as it’s legal.”
Councilmember Paul McDaniel expressed that he thought the code amendment wasn’t harsh enough and advocated for removing any exceptions like the proposed one that allows for unloading. With no exceptions, McDaniel’s proposal hypothetically might mean that residents could be ticketed for having an RV in front of their home for any length of time, even while actively loading or unloading it.
He moved to remove the allowance of 48 hours, saying “most people do what they want to do anyways, it doesn’t matter what we write in law no matter what this ordinance says.”
McDaniel explained that he thinks enforcement will be much more challenging with any exception due to the administrative “headache” of having to track how long an RV has been in a certain place and following up.
He said that having the exception will ensure that “people are going to abuse it,” adding that “that’s just bluntly how I feel about it. They’re going to abuse it because that’s how I feel people look at the law sometimes. They look for the loopholes in it.”
In response to McDaniel’s motion to remove the exception, Dovey said, “I oppose this motion because I don’t think it’s been thought through,” and cautioned against “legislating from the dias.”
There was no public comment on the proposed code amendment at the Aug. 13 meeting, although community members have expressed concerns about added costs of storing their RVs at past meetings.
More updates
• The city also renewed memorandums of understanding with the Federal Way Chorale, Federal Way Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Federal Way Symphony Orchestra, and the Jet Cities Chapter of the Sweet Adelines that expanded their benefits, including some free practices and performances.
• In an emotional speech at the city council meeting during public comment, Selena Taylor thanked the police officer who performed CPR in attempt to save her son’s life when he died from gun violence in 2021.
