Judge rejects Sebastopol group’s request to force ruling on safe parking program

A Sonoma County judge has rejected a Sebastopol neighborhood group’s request to fast-track a judgment against a controversial safe parking program at the north end of town for homeless people living out of RVs.

Friends of Northwest Sebastopol filed suit against the city last month to force the Sebastopol City Council to reverse its decision approving the one-year pilot program at a privately owned lot at 845 Gravenstein Highway North.

Friends of Northwest Sebastopol Petition.pdf

On Tuesday, Judge Arthur Wick denied the group’s request to speed up legal proceedings and render a final decision in a matter of weeks. The case can still move forward, however, and an initial hearing is set for Feb. 17.

Tony Francois, a San Francisco attorney representing the group, said it plans to continue the case on the normal briefing schedule.

“We look forward to having a judge rule on the merits,” Francois said.

The all-hours program set to offer supportive services and space for 18 vehicles is now cleared to be fully operational by Feb. 15. A delay of more than a week could have jeopardized the $368,000 in federal stimulus money set aside to fund most of the pilot program, according to Sonoma Applied Village Services, the nonprofit selected to run the site.

“I’m so, so relieved,” said Adrienne Lauby, president of SAVS.

The safe parking program, approved by the City Council in November, came largely in response to health and safety concerns from neighbors and business owners over a long-standing encampment with more than a dozen RVs on Morris Street. The hope is to move as many people as possible from the unsanctioned camp near The Barlow shopping center to the new “RV village.”

Lauby with SAVS said the nonprofit has since last week accepted four RVs from Morris Street at the safe parking lot, ahead of its full launch later this month. That’s in part because of a recent increase in enforcement activity on Morris Street, she said.

Starting the day after Christmas, Sebastopol police ramped up citations and tows of RVs with parking and vehicle code infractions, according to Chief Kevin Kilgore. Up until that point, officers had been working for months with homeless advocates including SAVS to bring RVs into compliance, Kilgore said.

The city also is weighing an ordinance that would effectively ban RV parking on city streets during daylight hours, raising alarm with some homeless advocates. The council was set to vote on the ordinance on Feb. 15.

Sebastopol City Attorney and Manager Lawrence McLaughlin said he was not surprised by Wick’s decision this week because the city’s “legal position is very strong.” He said Sebastopol will continue to defend the safe parking program and expects the legal process could play out over at least a few months.

Meanwhile, Francois, the neighborhood group’s attorney, is optimistic the case could still be decided in his favor in as soon as three or four weeks.

Ultimately, he said, the group aims to compel Sebastopol to reconsider the program through a stricter permitting process and to potentially set up smaller RV villages across the city so vehicles are not concentrated at one site.

You can reach Staff Writer Ethan Varian at ethan.varian@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5412. On Twitter @ethanvarian.