Updated: New neighborhood parking ordinances to take effect in early February

Ordinances passed by the Edmonds City Council would restrict the number of cars in yards of residential driveways and on public right-of-ways. (Photo by Larry Vogel)
Ordinances passed by the Edmonds City Council will restrict the number of cars in yards of residential driveways and on public right-of-ways. (Photo by Larry Vogel)

Updated at 6 p.m. Jan. 31 with additional information regarding fines to be issues.

The Edmonds City Council at its meeting earlier this week approved as part of its consent agenda two new parking ordinances to regulate the growing problem of multiple vehicles parked or stored in residential neighborhoods.

One of them is aimed at vehicles in driveways and front yards of residential properties that are visible from the street. The other imposes limits on the number of vehicles registered to a single address that may be parked on streets in the public right-of-way.

The first ordinance limits to four the number of motor vehicles that may be parked or stored in the front yard in single-family residential neighborhoods. It is intended to avoid the problem of single-family neighborhoods being dominated by motor vehicles and creating an eyesore. It would not count recreational vehicles, or vehicles in garages, under carports or screened from public view in back yards. Also exempt would be vehicles parked in the front yard for less than 24 hours, such as for a social gathering.

This corrects an ambiguity in the previous law, which limited vehicles parked anywhere on a residential lot to five, including those within the garage (the old law also exempted vehicles in the back yard that are screened from public view). It was difficult to enforce, since it required looking in a garage to count vehicles.

In addition, the new ordinance addresses soil erosion and runoff by specifying that vehicles in the front yard be parked on a permanent, hard surface covering no more than 50 percent of the front yard area. Exception is made for homes with existing, established front yard parking on compact dirt or other surfaces.

For more detail, refer to the Q and A prepared by the Edmonds Department of Development Services.

The second ordinance addresses street parking of multiple vehicles in residential neighborhoods. Its intent is to regulate long-term, on-street storage of numerous vehicles registered to a single address by limiting to two the number of vehicles registered to an individual address that may be parked within 1,000 feet (approximately two city blocks) of the residence to which they are registered.

Current parking regulations limit on-street parking in residential areas to 72 hours. However, some residents who park multiple vehicles on public streets (e.g., car mechanic hobbyists, collectors, etc.) simply shuffle the vehicles to avoid overtime parking citations, sometimes moving them only a few feet. In addition to violating the intent of the law, this creates congestion and visual blight, and limits options for other residents to park near their homes.

According to Edmonds Assistant Police Chief James Lawless, under the new ordinance, the two allotted vehicles would still be limited to 72 hours before they’d need to be moved, but any additional vehicles would be subject to immediate citation.

Lawless also pointed out that no major enforcement effort is planned for these new ordinances and that they would be handled like other parking violations.

“In general, with the exception of three hour downtown parking, handicap violations, and traffic hazard/obstruction issues, the majority of parking violations are complaint driven,” he explained in an email.  “That would be the case with this as well.”

Lawless noted that there is actually a provision in the code for all parking citations to be on the graduated fine schedule. “So, it would be our intent to issue a first offense for $40, second for $40, third for $80, fourth and subsequent offenses for $160 for those who are repeat offenders,” he said.

According to Edmonds City Clerk Scott Passey, the ordinances will be published in the City Code within the next few days, and will take effect five days thereafter, “probably around Feb. 5.”

— By Larry Vogel

 

  1. How can we find out if our neighborhood is affected by this? We live in unincorporated Edmonds (near the Edmonds/Shoreline border).

  2. Stephanie – It sounds like you mean Esperance, right? If so, that would be outside the jurisdictional boundaries of Edmonds (officially Esperance is in unincorporated Snohomish County), and so would not be subject to these or any other Edmonds ordinances/codes.

    1. Yes – Esperance. Bummer – our neighborhood would greatly benefit from these regulations. Thank you for clarifying!

  3. I live off a side street in edmonds and this side street has cars parked on it at all times. This only leaves one lane open and there are several visual obstructions. I have almost been hit several times because of these issues. I would like to request that the city look into this issue on this street but I don’t know how to put in the request. Any suggestions on how to go about requesting a review of parking on this street?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Real first and last names — as well as city of residence — are required for all commenters.
This is so we can verify your identity before approving your comment.

By commenting here you agree to abide by our Code of Conduct. Please read our code at the bottom of this page before commenting.