Judge suggests mediation for Tent City 4, Woodinville

The city of Woodinville and Tent City 4 should take their dispute into mediation, said a King County Superior Court judge Tuesday.

The mediation was suggested by Judge Charles Mertel, who said he was trying to resolve the dispute "without the heavy hand of the court."

Aside from the mediation efforts, Mertel said he expects to continue hearing from witnesses each morning through the rest of the week to try to find a solution.

"I'm going to support a mediator, to see if another solution short of a court order is possible," he said. "We're just going to keep going at this in the morning until we get it done."

The court sessions are the latest twists in the meandering path taken by Tent City 4, which has already moved its encampment of homeless people from Bothell to Kirkland, Woodinville and Bellevue.

The camp, which had previously camped in Woodinville on city-owned land near downtown, moved to a new location at the Northshore United Church of Christ, north of Woodinville-Duvall Road, in the middle of May. When the city sought to block the move, another judge issued a temporary order allowing the approximately 70 residents to remain there until Mertel could review the dispute and issue a ruling.

The matter before Mertel involves a lawsuit brought by the city of Woodinville seeking a court order closing the camp. Both parties say they're not quite sure how the mediation would work. Mertel said he is trying to find a retired judge to handle the matter, and attorneys speculate that mediation also could take place during the day and a proposed settlement then could be presented to the judge.

"I certainly hope it would happen this week," said Greg Rubstello, attorney for the city of Woodinville.

The intent would be that "the parties can just sit down and come to a mediated agreement before Friday," said Anthony Rafel, tent city attorney.

"Our worry is tent city will be on the street," said the Rev. Sandy Brown, executive director of the Church Council of Greater Seattle.

That would mean the residents would have to disperse and go back to living wherever they could find a place to sleep, which is often in cars or other makeshift accommodations.

Much of Tuesday's session was taken up with testimony by Pete Rose, Woodinville city manager.

Rose estimated that the 2004 encampment cost the city about $100,000, including $35,000 in legal fees, with the balance expended on staff costs and added security measures.

Under questioning from Rafel, however, Rose acknowledged that the staff costs essentially amounted to paying people to do their jobs and no additional expenses, such as overtime, were involved. But Rose noted that if the staff had not been occupied with tent city, they could have used that time for other city business.

Rose also noted that part of an agreement reached at that time specified that Tent City 4 would not return to the city without going through a permit process.

The City Council decided in early May against offering the downtown property again, after hearing testimony from residents who opposed allowing the encampment to return. That policy decision overrode a staff recommendation in favor of allowing the return, Rose said, acknowledging that the 2004 experience had been "fairly good."

The city has since offered use of the downtown property to tent city, said Marie Stake, communications coordinator, with conditions that include staying no longer than July 29 and agreeing not to return to the downtown site again. But the response indicates the encampment members are content to remain on the church property and are concerned about costs of the move, so no steps have been taken to relocate the settlement downtown, she said.

"We believe we worked with these folks back in 2004," said Rubstello, the city attorney. "Again, here we are. It's too late for the permit process to work. So, the city's back in court, because our ordinances aren't being complied with."

Peyton Whitely: 206-464-2259 or pwhitely@seattletimes.com