Possible Squatters Set Up Camp Next To The Beach Club



 



A neighbor out for a walk last Monday, discovered campers, or perhaps squatters, who had set up tents and a bonfire with a fire pit and pans on the public access shoreline right next to the Beach Club.

The neighbor wrote:

I was out taking a walk and the waterfront area next to the beach club, at the end of the parking lot,  had two tents pitched and people there.  I didn’t get too close as both of my daughters were with me, but I could see one man putting a shirt on.   

There was a red, older model Dodge pickup truck parked there as well, which may or may not belong to the people spending the night in that area.

When I went back a few hours later, the tents were gone, but the people were still there, as well as the red truck.   

Another neighbor reported that the following day around 3:15pm the red pickup was still there and there were at least two people that he could see.  One was African American and young-upper teens or 20’s and a young white male.

The neighbor also said that lots of cardboard and trash had been left, and that "it would probably take a good hour to clean up the mess,"

 

Vivian, Aquatics Land Manger, with Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) told us that WAC 332-52-310 prohibits camping at day-use facilities. 

“Day-use areas and facilities" means any department-managed lands, trailhead, picnic area, viewpoint, and designated parking areas for vehicles, boat launch or other facility that is designated for day-use only. 

And the Laurelhurst Community Club (LCC) said that the paved part, where the parking lot is, is shoreline street end.   The area on the other side of the fence, dividing the parking lot and the shoreline access, is State waterway, which doesn't allow camping.