Along the edges of Seattle’s parks, boulevards, and wooded hillsides there are private property owners unlawfully encroaching into public lands. Intrusions like overgrown shrubs and overflowing compost piles may not be so egregious, but some sheds, fences, and driveways are essentially privatizing what should be public open space.
In 2008, the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation set a strategic goal to “reclaim encroachments of private property” on parks land, but the cash strapped department lacked the resources to adequately monitor its many miles of property lines. Thanks to the voter-approved Seattle Parks District, the parks department now has the funds and staff to enforce those boundaries.
Park’s officials will be briefing the City Council’s parks committee Wednesday morning on its effort to reclaim public park property.
“We believe these people are our neighbors, we’re not trying to be vicious or heavy handed,” said Donald Harris, property and acquisition manager with the parks department.
While Harris said many property owners may not even be aware they are encroaching into parks space, others have clearly taken advantage of their lenient neighbors. In a presentation document, parks officials laid out a few of the reasons why removing unlawful encroachments, even minor ones, is so important:
- Encroachments often destroy natural habitat
- Even small encroachments take away park land (death by a thousand cuts)
- Private improvements may increase public liability
- The encroachments create a private benefit not available to others in the City
- As City grows, park spaces and natural areas become more precious
As part of the plan to fund $270 million of backlogged work, the Parks District is funding parks staff dedicated to encroachment resolution and electronic data management. It was partially in response to a 2010 Capitol Hill encroachment issue where two families living along Federal Ave E on the western edge of Volunteer Park had slowly absorbed park space into their private backyards. The parks district will also help fund the complaint-based system and appeal process passed by the City Council in 2013
