Yakima Council Parks Parking Lot Idea For Homeless
The Yakima City Council on Tuesday decided against a plan to create a secure parking lot east of I-82 for homeless who live in vehicles. Council members Patricia Byers, Matt Brown and Danny Herrera, Janice Deccio and Holly Cousens vote in favor of rescinding plan to open the parking lot.
The council decided to study the issue in the future
Instead of moving forward on Tuesday the council decided to discuss the issue further in a future study session.
The move by the council to not open the lot is in agreement with the city staff that recommended the city not go forward with the idea at this time. They estimate the cost would be $600,000 to create the lot and then more than $25,000 a month. The parking lot would have included security, fencing and monitoring.
There are plenty of parking lots and property to consider
A recent city survey of available properties found there are "five city-owned properties with existing parking lots, and two undeveloped city-owned properties east of I-82 for the council to consider." Mike Kay the Executive Director of Camp Hope in Yakima has told the city a secure parking area is already available at the camp but he says the city hasn't shown interest in the idea of creating the parking area at the camp. He spoke at the meeting Tuesday telling the council the homeless could park in the Camp Hope lot and enjoy water, sewer RV hookups.
Other local authorities and concerned citizens spoke at the meeting on Tuesday. The council eventually acting to nix the plan to create the parking lot and continue talking about the issue in the future.