Chelan Parks and Recreation addresses Lakeside parking, capacity, enforcement

CHELAN – The Parks and Recreation Department is taking steps to regulate summer use at popular Lakeside Park after Lakeside community residents addressed the September 24, 2024, council meeting over parking congestion, crowd capacity, and regulation enforcement issues.

Parks and Recreation Director Paul Horne reported to the Jan. 14 city council that his department has met with the community group Friends of Lakeside (FOL), formed last fall to advocate for the 10-acre passive park at 2230 Terrace Avenue.

“We had a long series of meetings with the FOL over some of the negative consequences of the over-popularity of Lakeside Park,” said Horne. “One of the meetings…was a walkabout with the sheriff’s department, fire department, EMS, public works, parks, DOT, and we looked at the neighborhoods and parking off the park.”

Horne said the meetings resulted in a plan to resolve the use issues on several fronts.

Parking

• Improve the capacity parking system.
• Salary increases to recruit parking enforcement staff.
• Increase parking rates for longer stays.

“One of the concerns that has been raised is so-called ‘day parking’ where people are set up for the day,” said Horne. “We want to discourage the longer stays and give more people a chance to visit the park.”

Renovation 

Horne noted that renovation will be postponed until mid-August so construction will not interfere with efforts to get crowd control in place this spring. Proposed upgrades include:

• New T-dock (commission dock in winter and install in spring, if feasible).
• New playground (equipment ordered to lock in year-end savings and eliminate contractor markup).
• Improved paths and mitigation of beach erosion.
• Restroom expansion (from nine to 14 stalls and addition of seven outside changing stations).

Horne said the department’s intention was to replace the park’s aging signage through grant funding four years ago, “but it has actually taken four years to get the funding for it.” 

Signage

• Incorporate rules and regulations.
• Provide context for other recreational opportunities in the area.
• Provide marine regulations as well as other park rules.
• Be multilingual and use universal symbols/QR codes as appropriate.
• Vet with insurance carrier WCIA (Washington Cities Insurance Authority) for correctness.

“We have met with Friends of Lakeside to see what their proposed changes would be,” said Horne. “We have come up with our changes and we are reconciling those two bodies of work to come up with a consensus.”  

Rules Enforcement

• Hire private security on weekends throughout the summer.
• Require the support of law enforcement to be successful.
• Outreach inquiries have been sent to three private security firms with a detailed scope of work to follow. 

“We are making weekly progress with weekly meetings on all of these fronts,” said Horne. “Our target is Memorial Day with signs installed, regulations developed, and security firms hired to advance this further.”

Horne also raised the possibility of a gated entrance.

“A gate that would open automatically at a certain in the morning and close at a certain time at night would help with people getting there at 5 a.m. - and a lot of people do,” said Horne. “There are a lot of logistics to explore to make that happen.”

Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483 or michael@ward.media