The in basket: Sandy, who kept her last name to herself, was upset to find a $101 ticket on the car she had left in the Agate Pass park & ride lot with a “for sale” sign on it Oct. 4.
As far as she was concerned, that lot is “a known place in the county, as far back as anyone can remember, to sell your vehicle. My husband bought his truck last February from seeing it on this same lot,” she said.
“When I dropped my car off at 9 a.m. that Sunday the row next to the highway was filled. I had to park mine in the back row. I believe there were at least 20 cars with ‘for sale’ signs at that time. When I came back at 5:30 to pick up my car, every car that was still on the lot with a ‘for sale’ sign, had a ticket. For sure I saw eight cars with tickets.
“What irks me is that for many year’s this park and ride IS a well-known place to leave your car. I had even checked with a long time resident of Bainbridge Island and he had not heard/saw that cars are being ticketed/forbidden to be left there.
“Has something happened that the rules have been changed, the laws are going to be enforced and vehicles ticketed? Why had violators not been consistently ticketed and laws enforced in the past? Why now, why the change?”
The out basket: I don’t know if it was infrequent enforcement or what that led the community to believe that weekend display of “for sale” signs on cars in that lot was permissible. But there certainly is no such exemption stated on the big official sign near the entrance to the lot. It says no unauthorized cars or cars with ‘for sale’ signs are allowed there. The sign is surrounded by brambles, so obviously is not new.
Since Sandy wrote, I’ve checked park & ride lots at McWilliams and Mullenix roads and in Purdy, and all have the identical sign forbidding the practice.
The signs all say such cars are subject to being impounded, which can cost a lot more than $101. So it could have been worse for those who were ticketed at Agate Pass.
WSP Sgt. Ken Przygocki told me “The Agate Pass Park & Ride … is intended for motorists who carpool, vanpool, ride bicycles and utilize the transit system and is clearly posted advising everyone of this intent. The … posted rules are in effect 24 hours a day and seven days a week.
“I encourage your readers to make themselves aware of all posted signs on state property before leaving their vehicles unattended,” he said.
He said enforcement at the Agate Pass lot has been stepped up since 1999, when a commuter complained about not being able to find a space while many vehicles for sale took up spots. Another complaint was received in October about a weekend shortage of spaces. “Therefore a trooper went to investigate and citations were issued,” Ken said.
“A study was done of the park & ride and vehicles were observed parked there with large amounts of pine needles and other debris covering the vehicles (which indicated they had been there for some time).
“(There were) boats on trailers for sale and that were not attached to vehicles, and vans and other larger vehicles that took up 4-6 parking spaces. I myself (while off-duty) have observed numerous types of vehicles, boats, trailers, motor homes, jet skies, trucks and motorcycles parked at this lot with ‘for sale’ signs on many occasions.
“Calls for service that are more of a priority prevent us from checking the lot daily or weekly,” he said. “However, when time allows, troopers will continue to check the lot for violations. It is up to the trooper’s judgment if the vehicle is ticketed, towed or if the owner is called to remove it.”
It’s not easy to find a well-traveled spot to leave a car with a for-sale sign on it. You can get away with one or two of your own cars on your own property, but if on someone else’s property, or if it’s a succession of different cars, it becomes a zoning violation that will get county code enforcement involved.
John Clauson of Kitsap Transit said his agency also doesn’t want the park& ride lots it maintains on its own without state partnership to be used for selling cars.
County code enforcement officer Steve Mount’s best advice? Get a classified ad.
Epilog::
Sandy says she went to court in November and won her case.
“I took pictures of every car with a For-Sale sign the Sunday following my ticket and the Sunday preceding my court date,” she said. “I also took a pic of the DOT sign posted at the lot. Between the sign’s posted RCW’s, what I was sited for on the ticket and the reason for the siting – Abandonded Vehicle – the judge said the ticket was confusing and found I did not commit the offense. He said the pictures helped to tell the story that ticketing was not happening consistently.
“The authorities know the lot is being used as a used car lot on the weekends and the community, in a large sense, supports it,” she asserted.
“Everyone I spoke to has been surprised that ticketing was occurring,” she said. “Would I ever try to sell a car there again? No way. I sold my car one week later, using a national auto listing site.”
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