2019-10-14-minutes-public-works-study-session

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KITTITAS COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS PUBLIC WORKS — BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS STUDY SESSION STAFF REPORT STUDY SESSION DATE: October 14, 2019 TOPIC: Hyak Parking Fines ACTION REQUESTED: Direct Staff Prepare Enabling Legislation and Schedule a Public Hearing LEAD STAFF: Mark R. Cook RECOMMENDATION: Amend Kittitas County Code 10.06.050 "Towing and impounding vehicles violating parking restrictions" and 10.07.060 "Towing and impounding of vehicles violating parking restrictions". BRIEFING SUMMARY: • Currently, KCC 10.06.050 does not impose a parking violation fine. • Staff proposes imposing a $200.00 parking violation fine. • Snoqualmie Public Utility District supports the parking fine. • Public Works routinely cannot snowplow large portions of Hyak during the winter owing to illegally parked vehicles. • Amending KCC requires a public hearing. BACKGROUND: Every winter, illegal parking in Hyak makes snowplowing difficult for Public Works (PW) staff. People routinely park in front of the PW maintenance facility blocking our ability to exist the building. In 2017, PW placed concrete barriers and now uses a locked cable to thwart illegal parking in front of the maintenance facility that is shared by the Snoqualmie Public Utility District (SPUD). During winter weekends, the illegal parking also adversely impacts the ability for SPUD to respond to requests for service. SPUD solicited PW in 2018 requesting action on possible solutions aimed at minimizing impacts from illegal parking. DISCUSSION: Given this cost of a ski weekend, PW believes any parking fine should be sufficiently large to avoid individuals accepting the fee as park of the "ski weekend" cost package. PW also believes that an aggressive tow campaign will further discourage illegal parking in Hyak. Pagel of 3 PUBLIC WORKS BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WORK SESSION STAFF REPORT