Camas to crack down on illegal Lake Road parking

With warmer weather on the way, Camas Police Chief Mitch Lackey says he is worried about the parking situation near Camas’ popular Heritage Park near Lacamas Lake Lodge.

“This park has an overuse issue. On warm days, boaters, swimmers and kayakers flock to the park and there’s not enough parking,” Lackey told the Camas City Council in early March.

Despite “no parking” signs along nearby Northwest Lake Road, Heritage Park users still tend to park on the side of the road — parking in the tento park tend to park on the side of the road instead of the pavement — when the designated parking lot is full, Lackey said.

“It’s very concerning to me,” he said.

“People are parked bumper to bumper all over the place (and) it’s already a busy road.”

The police chief told councilors he worries about people getting hit, especially children who are getting out of their family’s cars and excited about going to the park or lake.

“We’ve also talked about adding a fence along the side of the road … either a split-rail cedar fence or potentially a small, black chain-link (fence) that would still look nice.”

Several city councilors agreed that illegal parking on Lake Road near Heritage Park has gotten out of control.

“To me, it’s looking like Washougal River Road in the summer, and we know how dangerous that is in the summer,” said Councilwoman Melissa Smith.

Getting the word out to residents and visitors, however, will be critical, Wall said.

“I think part of the discussion is that, no matter how much outreach we do, even with the signs and fence, this still might generate some comments,” he told city councilors in early March.

“So we want to make sure the outreach piece is there and that people understand why we’re taking this step.”