Mayor Wilson vetoes RV permitting program

Mayor Katie Wilson vetoed a bill Monday that addresses RV permitting after the Seattle City Council approved the legislation last month.

Councilmember Dan Strauss introduced the Vehicle Resident Assistance Program (VRAP) this summer. VRAP is a five-bill plan that proposed to create new services for vehicle residents, establish programs for RV storage, and update the city’s “junk vehicle” law to address abandoned or illegally parked vehicles on city streets.

The Seattle City Council approved the entire VRAP legislation in October, but Mayor Wilson has only approved four of the five bills in the plan. The bill she vetoed, CB 121283, proposed creating a new RV permit program that would allow people who are currently living in RVs to continue to do so as long as they follow current city laws, basic rules, and remain on a waitlist for appropriate shelter. Motorhomes and travel trailers without a permit would only be able to park on city streets for two hours at a time.

Wilson said she vetoed that part of the legislation because of efficacy concerns. In her letter explaining the veto, she referenced difficulties conducting and using a one-time census of RV residents, RV ownership documentation challenges, administrative costs for RV storage, enforcement issues, and how permit non-compliance could increase unsheltered homelessness in Seattle.

“Before we passed this legislation, Mayor Katie Wilson promised me not to veto it and to work together to implement. Now, thirteen days after we passed it, the mayor gave me a call at 4 p.m. to let me know she was breaking that promise,” Councilmember Strauss said in a press release in response to the mayor’s veto.

The parts of the VRAP package that Wilson approved include the following:

• Invests in new services: Directs $5 million of existing funding already in the city’s budget to increase services such as safe lots, shelter storage, and direct outreach, and to create pathways to housing for vehicle residents.
• Creates ‘Shelter Storage’: Allows the city to create a new service that will help vehicle residents access shelter and housing by allowing the city to store their vehicle, instead of risk losing their possessions.
• Cuts red tape to open resources faster: Expands the authority of the Finance and Administrative Services director to sign leases and open safe lots, safe storage, and other resources faster for people who live in their vehicles.
• Updates Seattle’s ‘junk vehicle’ law: Clarifies the city’s existing Junk Vehicle Law, which hasn’t been updated in 25 years, to better address non-lived-in vehicles that have been abandoned or inappropriately stored on Seattle’s streets and provides better guidance to parking enforcement.

“As mayor, it is my responsibility to ensure that City policies and programs are implementable, a cost effective use of public resources, and have a reasonable likelihood of achieving their stated goals,” Wilson said in her letter. “I am vetoing this bill today because I am concerned that the permit program outlined in CB 121283 does not meet this threshold, and I want to give the Council an opportunity to consider an alternative pathway.

“Whatever the outcome, I remain deeply committed to working with the Seattle City Council to improve
quality of life for all residents and find solutions to our homelessness and public safety challenges.”

The Seattle City Council must now consider whether to override the mayor’s veto between five to 30 days from now. Overriding requires a vote of six councilmembers.

“I am disappointed that Mayor Wilson has vetoed this legislation at the eleventh hour. I am disappointed that she broke her commitment to work together to implement this legislation. And, I am disappointed by the lack of leadership from the executive,” Strauss said.

Photo: RVs parked along Seaview Ave NW, Google Image Capture