Issues with parking and related code enforcement in Battle Ground are set to receive more attention with the addition of an officer dedicated to take on the job.
At the end of Battle Ground City Council’s Jan. 3 meeting, Battle Ground Mayor Philip Johnson presented a number of photos he took while driving around the city. Many of the photos showed parking violations, which included trailers parked on the street for months at a time in violation of city code.
In one instance, Johnson showed a photo of a camper that was untagged with Oregon plates which he said had been parked in the street for five or six months. In the photo, the camper was located in a front lawn.
“I assume you can’t have a camper in your front yard,” Johnson said.
Other photos he presented showed vehicles covered in tarps on the street. In one case, the vehicle was missing doors and wheels.
He also showed a photo of a camper parked directly in front of a driveway. That was something Battle Ground Police Chief Mike Fort believes is not allowed, even if the homeowner owns the camper.
“I can’t be the only guy that saw it,” Johnson said.
Other photos dealt with city code outside of parking. They showed unkempt properties, a storage “pod” on a residential driveway the mayor said has been sitting there for more than a month, and a basketball hoop set up out in the street.
“As in most of these, neighbors will call me, contact me, because they certainly don’t want to contact the city, the cops, whomever, because they have to live next to these people,” Johnson said.
The neighbors wanted to avoid having their name in public record.
“We need to do better,” Johnson said.
Johnson said it took him less than 30 minutes to take all of the photos of the violations. Councilor Adrian Cortes said identifying violations isn’t the labor intensive part of the process.
“It takes time and a lot of manpower just because of due process,” Cortes said.
Battle Ground City Manager Erin Erdman said the vehicles in public rights of way will be addressed with the new parking enforcement officer included in the 2023 city budget. Fort explained the position will allow cases of violations to reach a resolution.
“Our police officers are going out and responding to (the parking violations), but the follow-up is missing,” Fort said, noting those officers have other enforcement calls to address.
Having the parking enforcement position allows the city to follow up on those problems, Fort said.
Johnson said handing out citations would allow municipal court to handle the issues.
“If I’m parked in a drive lane with a tremendous vehicle in a T-intersection blocking one lane of traffic, I need a ticket,” Johnson said.
The mayor said the city has not upheld its standard for parking issues.
“We’ve got a different mindset out here, and part of it is ‘this is my property, you’re not going to tell me what to do on my property,’” Councilor Shane Bowman said. “And I understand property rights, but you also live in a city that has codes and rules.”
Bowman said the effects of one property on neighbors’ property values has to be taken into account.
“We have a choice that we either start this now and rip the Band-Aid off and deal with it, or we just let it become a free-for-all,” Bowman said.
Councilor Shauna Walters believes once enforcement from the new position begins, it will lead to a change in the city status quo.
“Once we get a standard and people understand what that standard looks like, those (issues) are going to go down,” Walters said. “Yeah, it’s going to be uncomfortable at first … it’s going to be uncomfortable until it’s standard.”
Erdman said city staff were set to meet the day after the council meeting to make final changes to the job description. It will also have to go through the police union for their approval.
“Hopefully we will get it posted in the next two weeks,” Erdman said.
Even without the position, Fort said parking infractions through the year have been up 400%. He said when the parking enforcement officer is instated, “that is when I think you’re really going to see a big difference.”
“That is their primary job and focus,” Fort said.
On issues of code enforcement outside of parking, Erdman said the city has opened 77 enforcement cases since early October. Twenty five of those cases are still open and active.
“Some of those take a lot of time back and forth,” Erdman said.
Erdman said city code compliance officer Brent Gullickson isn’t “driving around the city constantly looking for these issues because he’s tackling the ones that are coming in through the system and then dealing with the back and forth.”
Erdman said the incoming parking enforcement officer will be able to coordinate with code enforcement to address issues that move into each others’ purview, like a camper moving from the street to a front lawn.
