After weeks of keeping mum, Mayor Mike McGinn prodded the city council to consider two solutions to calm community concerns about Nickelsville: support legislation to permit local nonreligious groups to host encampments for up to a year or turn the current site into a semipermanent camp with basic amenities.
McGinn sent city councilmembers a two-page letter May 14 that laid out his vision for the embattled camp. Nickelsville has been squatting on city-owned land for two years.
During that time, the camp has faced security woes, floods and rats. A neighborhood group recently asked the city to choose a mid-June move-out date for the camp, located at West Marginal Way SW and Highland Park Way SW. A property owner whose land abuts Nickelsville has filed a $1.65 million claim against the city, citing the camp has decreased his property value.
“The current encampment situation is not sustainable,” McGinn wrote.
To that end, McGinn suggested two alternatives.
The first asked councilmembers to get behind proposed legislation that would allow transitional encampments to reside legally on nonchurch owned sites for up to year. Those encampments would have to address requirements for site management, maintenance and security.
Councilmember Nick Licata, with assistance legislative aide Lisa Herbold, hammered out the proposed legislation. It will be introduced to the council on May 22.
If approved, the legislation could open the possibility for the camp to move to a new location. McGinn wrote this was his preferred option.
The mayor’s second option would allow Nickelodeons to stay where they are by making the West Seattle site suitable for semipermanent residential use. Such a change would involve providing running water, sewer and trash services; solving drainage and pest concerns; and contracting with a nonprofit to provide unspecified services to campers. Nearly 100 people currently live in the camp.
McGinn said that if the second option garnered more support, he planned to offer his own legislation to fund an environmental assessment of the current location.
“If campers are to remain on the site, we should begin work as soon as possible,” he wrote.
The pressure on city officials to come up with a plan for Nickelsville has been building for months. The Highland Park Action Committee threatened to file a claim against the city if city leaders didn’t formulate a move-out plan for the camp. Nickelodeons told the city that police hadn’t done enough to protect the camp from the “grave risk” posed by resident meth dealers and former campers (RC, May 8, “Nickelsville: homeless again?”).
Then the nonprofit Food Lifeline wants to turn the site and adjoining land, owned by the state and the neighbor who filed the $1.65 million claim, into a regional food distribution center. In order for construction to begin this summer, Nickelodeons would have to vacate.
McGinn wrote that if the council supported Licata’s legislation, he’d work to expedite the sale of the city’s portion of the land to Food Lifeline.
Either option requires action from the council, McGinn wrote. No matter which plan gained favor, the mayor told councilmembers he was ready to open a dialogue about how to best serve homeless people who had few options but to sleep outside: “I look forward to working with you to identify a long term-solution.”