Historic parking arrangement fuels new debate in Lakeside

CHELAN — A request from Lakeside Lodge & Suites for overnight parking accommodations exposed years of confusion over public parking near Lakeside Park, prompting city staff to reconstruct decades of parking decisions, code changes and permit practices before bringing the issue to the Chelan City Council on June 9.

Representatives of Lakeside Lodge asked the city to consider allowing overnight permit parking for hotel guests on Johnson Place, arguing the request would help address parking needs for visitors staying at the property.

The discussion quickly expanded beyond the lodge's current request as city staff outlined a complex history involving parking requirements, public parking spaces and changes to city code dating back more than two decades.

According to Community Development Director John Ajax, the roots of the issue trace back to the lodge's expansion in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

When the project was approved, the city allowed Lakeside Lodge to count approximately 13 to 15 public parking spaces on Johnson Place toward the hotel's required parking total. The 93-room hotel was required to provide 73 parking spaces, and city records show those public spaces were counted toward meeting that requirement as part of improvements made by the lodge in the public right-of-way.

Ajax said the arrangement appears to have contributed to a long-standing belief that the lodge possessed special rights to those spaces because they’d made the improvements. However, city staff determined that while the spaces could be counted toward the hotel's parking requirement, they remained public parking spaces and were never transferred to the lodge's ownership or exclusive control.

"We went back through the agenda bills clear back to 2008," Ajax told council members, describing an effort by staff to reconstruct the history of the issue through city records.

Complicating matters further, staff found that current city code includes language dating to 2014 that contemplates an overnight parking permit program on Johnson Place.

City Administrator Laura McAloon said that provision appears to allow overnight parking by permit during limited overnight hours already established in city code. However, the request submitted by Lakeside Lodge would go beyond those hours.

The lodge requested approximately 10 overnight parking spaces for hotel guests between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m.

McAloon told council that approving that request would require a city code amendment and could not be accomplished administratively.

"The request from Lakeside Lodge is that they have approximately 10 spaces and have overnight parking only for their guests between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. That would require city council action and amendment of city code," she said.

Staff outlined two potential paths forward: creating a permit process under the overnight hours already contemplated in city code, or pursuing an ordinance amendment to accommodate the expanded hours requested by the lodge.

The proposal drew extensive public comment from residents and members of Friends of Lakeside, many of whom argued the issue was ultimately one of fairness.

Vicki Martz told council that public parking should remain available to residents and park users rather than being reserved for a single business.

Due to limited public comment time, Martz was not able to finish the entirety of her remarks. In a message to Ward Media after the meeting, she said Friends of Lakeside formed in response to growing parking pressures in the neighborhood, particularly after the Fourth of July holiday in 2024, when she said more than 100 vehicles were parked along a section of Butte Road near the Millard Road and High Street intersection.

“Every square inch of Lakeside, north and south of Highway 97A was literally at 150% capacity for parking,” she said.

Tammy Hague, speaking on behalf of Friends of Lakeside, also described what she said were longstanding concerns about parking congestion and overcrowding in the area. Hague said residents monitored parking activity around Lakeside Park and documented vehicles displaying yellow Lakeside Lodge parking passes.

Hague also told council that former City Administrator Wade Farris and Communications Director Chad Coltman each sent letters to the lodge in late 2025 stating the passes could no longer be used.

In follow-up communications with Ward Media, Olga Manos provided photographs showing vehicles displaying the yellow Lakeside Lodge passes as recently as April 2026.

Hague argued the continued use of the passes after the city notifications showed the issue had not been resolved.

Manos, who said she was speaking on behalf of Lakeside Villa condominium owners as well as Friends of Lakeside, argued neighboring property owners had complied when told similar parking privileges were no longer available.

She said residents felt they were being held to a different standard than the hotel and its guests.

Several council members expressed concern about creating a parking program that would benefit a single lodging business without considering impacts on nearby residents and other property owners.

Councilmember Cesar Rivera-Vargas said he would like staff to explore broader parking solutions for the neighborhood, including the possibility of residential permit programs.

Rather than taking action, council directed staff to return July 14 with additional information, including parking inventories, historical parking requirements for nearby properties and potential options for addressing both overnight parking requests and neighborhood concerns.

No decision was made on the lodge's request.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media