On Monday night, the Bellevue City Council unanimously adopted three ordinances addressing parking enforcement, illegal wastewater disposal and camping in public spaces. The actions come in response to several ongoing concerns voiced by council members and community members related to homelessness. City officials say these new tools seek to balance the use of infrastructure and neighborhood quality with the city’s overarching compassionate and regionally coordinated strategy on homelessness.

The adopted measures include:

Ordinance 6383 – Modifies the city’s parking codes and prohibits vehicles from remaining parked in the same public space for more than 24 hours. Currently, vehicles can avoid ticketing by moving only a few inches due to a vague definition in the city code. The new ordinance clarifies that vehicles must move to a different street block every 24 hours.

Ordinance 6384 – Upgrades the improper disposal of wastewater to a criminal infraction. Although dumping is prohibited by the city code, language has only allowed enforcement through the civil violation process.

Ordinance 6385 – Extends the prohibition of public camping to all city-owned property and public easements. Previously, the ban only covered city-owned parks. The new ordinance still allows for certain city-permitted events involving overnight camping at city parks.

All three ordinances will go into effect on Dec. 26.

More information on the city’s homelessness strategy and related issues is available on the Homelessness in Bellevue pages.