Residents of a Clark County subdivision between Vancouver and Camas are considering rules that would dictate who could park in their neighborhood — but their plans might not stop there.
Those living in the Regency Park subdivision have proposed having their homeowners’ association wrest ownership of their streets from the county.
People who live in the 16-home subdivision say students at nearby Union High School have been parking on neighborhood streets where, at times, there are between 25 and 50 cars packed in bumper-to-bumper.
Resident Stephanie Millman says she is fed up with what she considers the teens’ disrespectful behavior. They clog the streets, spread litter and, on more than one occasion, have used their vehicles for intimate encounters, Millman said.
“We’ve been having a lot of challenges out here,” she said. “There just isn’t enough parking.”
That’s evident at Union High School, which awards parking spots using a lottery in an attempt to manage limited space in the lot. Evergreen Public Schools has attempted alternative measures to free up more space, such as entering into agreements with the owners of nearby lots to accommodate the large number of student drivers.
The situation in Regency Park has deteriorated ever since the LifePoint Church in 2012 began restricting the number of students allowed to use its parking lot, Millman said. The church continues to set aside a number of spots for students, according to Evergreen schools.
There are now days when the residential streets, lined by stately houses on 1-acre lots, are choked by parked cars and traffic.
Millman moved to Regency Park a year ago, after her home in the Westridge neighborhood was broken into and robbed. The incident left her rattled and concerned about public safety and the influx of outsiders. She said loitering is on the rise and that she has seen kids smoking pot.
“People are driving around just stalking,” Millman said. “What I’m sensing is there are more people who don’t have consideration.”
Gail Spolar, a spokeswoman for the Evergreen district, said steps have been taken to address the neighbors’ concerns, but only so much is possible. Part of the reason is because of a lack of money, she said.
“Part of it is that we provide bus service for the students,” she said. “While we make accommodations for parking spots, the money the district can put forward for parking, in addition to the footprint we have at the school, we can’t expand parking. It’s not a high priority.”
She said the district does what it can to address safety concerns. In addition to Union’s parking lot, the high school’s resource officer also checks on vehicles parked nearby at LifePoint Church and in the subdivision.
Regency Park neighbors have called on the county for help.
One idea floated calls for restricting on-street parking between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays. Another would transfer ownership of the streets to the homeowners’ association, thereby making them private. While county commissioners had scheduled a hearing about the matter, they postponed the discussion until a later date.
The county likely won’t take any possible steps until the spring.
The president of the subdivision’s homeowners association, Michael Kriss, told commissioners Tuesday that something needed to be done about the parking.
“The problem is, there are new students every year,” Kriss said. “They park poorly and often illegally.”
Neighbors have documented wayward cars blocking mailboxes and driveways. But he also praised the county’s work in addressing the matter. The homeowners’ association is fully prepared to take ownership of the neighborhoods streets, even at an added expense he said.
