After an incident involving a private vehicle overstaying its welcome in Bonney Lake’s Justice and Municipal Center parking lot, the City Council planned to vote on an ordinance restricting the parking lot to city and library use only.

A discussion of the ordinance took place during the Feb. 3 council workshop, and the ordinance was forwarded to the Feb. 10 meeting for a vote.

City administrator Don Morrison said during the workshop that he was recently approached by a resident and asked about whether the city could tow the vehicle, which had remained in the same parking space for four days.

When Morrison checked the city code, he found the city had no authority to tow the vehicle.

The vehicle was eventually moved, presumably by its owner, but the incident prompted Morrison to ask, “What do we do if people use the parking lot just for park and ride or residents use it for their extra cars?”

The council’s current solution is to put up signs at both entrances of the parking lot alerting drivers of the new restriction, and that overnight parking would also be prohibited.

As the ordinance is currently written, City Attorney Kathleen Haggard said the city would be able to ticket vehicles that are parked in the lot overnight.

However, the ordinance would need to specifically identify the parking lot as a tow-away zone if the council wanted the ability to remove improperly parked vehicles.