Ask MRSC - Infrastructure & Public Facilities

Below are examples of both facility policies for rentals, which include guidelines for visitors, as well as codes of conduct for public facilities.

• Bellevue Facility Rental Guidelines (2020)
• Bellingham Public Library Rules of Conduct (4.101)
• Cowlitz County Code Ch. 10.05 – Code of Conduct and Trespass from County Facilities.
• Jefferson County Code Ch. 8.85 – Code of Conduct and Trespass from County Facilities.
• Kettle Falls Municipal Code Ch. 12.16 – Regulations Applicable to Parks and Recreational Facilities.
• Port of Bellingham Public Space Use Policies and Procedures (2023)
• Whatcom Museum Rental Brochure
• Yelm Community Center Rental Policies

And here are Portland’s Rules of Conduct for City Property. Since this example is from out of state, it may not comply with all of Washington State laws.

Also see our Public Facility Rental and Use page, Rights and Limits on Filming in Public Facilities blog post, and custom city code search results.

We recommend that you work with your agency attorney as you develop any code of conduct.

Generally, the owner of a public right-of-way is required to update curb ramps constructed before January 26, 1992, if the roadway is “altered.” Whether a roadway is altered depends on the extent of the restoration during the project. ADA guidance defines alteration:

“Alterations” are another category of construction under the ADA. A street or sidewalk falls into this category if it was constructed pre-ADA (construction began before January 26, 1992), and has since been altered. What does “altered” mean? An alteration is a change that affects usability. Resurfacing a roadway beyond normal maintenance is an alteration. By contrast, filling potholes is not. [28 C.F.R. § 35.151(b)]

Federal agencies interpreting ADA regulations have opined on the meaning and scope of the term “alteration.” For example, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) offers guidance on when the scope of an alteration project triggers accessibility improvements under the ADA in their Questions and Answers about ADA/Section 504 page:

The scope of an alteration project is determined by the extent the alteration project directly changes or affects the public right-of-way within the project limits. The public agency must improve the accessibility of only that portion of the public right-of-way changed or affected by the alteration. If a project resurfaces the street, for accessibility purposes the curbs and pavement at the pedestrian crosswalk are in the scope of the project, but the sidewalks are not. Any of the features disturbed by the construction must be replaced so that they are accessible. All remaining access improvements within the public right-of-way shall occur within the schedule provided in the public agency's planning process.

And here are two questions and answers that also provide guidance – these are also taken from the FHWA webpage with Questions and Answers about ADA/Section 504.

1. What projects constitute an alteration to the public right-of-way?

An alteration is a change to a facility in the public right-of-way that affects or could affect access, circulation, or use. Projects altering the use of the public right-of-way must incorporate pedestrian access improvements within the scope of the project to meet the requirements of the ADA and Section 504. These projects have the potential to affect the structure, grade, or use of the roadway. Alterations include items such as reconstruction, rehabilitation, widening, resurfacing (see USDOJ-FHWA technical assistance dated 6-28-13 for additional clarification), signal installation and upgrades, and projects of similar scale and effect (6-28-2013).

2. What activities are not considered to be alterations?

The DOJ does not consider maintenance activities, such as filling potholes, to be alterations. The DOJ does consider resurfacing beyond normal maintenance to be an alteration. DOJ's ADA Title II Technical Assistance Manual, § II-6.6000, 1993, USDOJ-FHWA Technical Assistance dated 6-28-2013.

The FHWA has determined that maintenance activities include actions that are intended to preserve the system, retard future deterioration, and maintain the functional condition of the roadway without increasing the structural capacity. These activities include, but are not limited to, joint repair, pavement patching (filling potholes), shoulder repair, signing, striping, minor signal upgrades, and repairs to drainage systems. (6-28-2013)

There are safe harbors in some cases if the cost of improving the curb ramp is out of proportion to the cost of the project. But municipalities are required to have an ADA transition plan that identifies all of your public facilities (including roads and sidewalks) and sets out your priorities for bringing them up to the current standards. Note that a local government can pass the curb ramp requirement to utilities or other persons altering your roadways if your code or design standards provide for it.

Finally, if a street alteration triggers an upgrade to one ramp, state law requires an upgrade to the opposite ramp. See, e.g., RCW 35.68.075.

For more information, see MRSC’s Americans with Disabilities Act page.

Because the requirement to upgrade for a particular project is very fact-specific, we defer to your agency attorney to provide specific legal guidance.

Most of the examples of public use policies that we have are related to facility rentals. Here are some selected examples from Washington State (including one from a port):

• Bellevue Parks & Community Services: Facility Rental Guidelines (2020)
• Kettle Falls Municipal Code Sec. 12.16.025 – Regulations applicable to parks and recreational facilities.
• Port of Bellingham: Public Space Use Policies and Procedures (2023)
• Yelm Community Center: Rental Policies (2017)

You can find several more examples on MRSC's Public Facility Rental and Use page, through these General Code and Municode site search results pages, and through this city websites search.

There is no state law requirement to advertise port property available to lease. Your port should follow its local policies and procedures for finding and securing a reliable tenant and for determining the terms of the lease including a fair market rate for the property. The authority to lease port property is found in RCW 53.08.080:

A district may lease all lands, wharves, docks and real and personal property owned and controlled by it, for such purposes and upon such terms as the port commission deems proper: PROVIDED, That no lease shall be for a period longer than fifty years with option for extensions for up to an additional thirty years, except where the property involved is or is to be devoted to airport purposes the port commission may lease said property for such period as may equal the estimated useful life of such work or facilities, but not to exceed seventy-five years: PROVIDED FURTHER, That where the property is held by the district under lease from the United States government or the state of Washington, or any agency or department thereof, the port commission may sublease said property, with option for extensions, up to the total term and extensions thereof permitted by such lease, but in any event not to exceed ninety years.

This statute allows port property leases with duration up to fifty years with options for extensions and a different period for property with airport property. RCW 53.08.085 requires a port’s tenant for a lease of more than one year to provide insurance, a bond, or other security. The port district statutes do not have provisions about advertising or how to otherwise find a tenant for a lease of port property.

Many cities include provisions in their codes that establish a framework for the use of park facilities and community centers. These provisions generally include information about the authority to impose fees and basic rules for the use of facilities. However, the more detailed procedures and guidelines for the reservation system are typically handled through administrative policies. Administrative policies may include information on the reservation process, availability, fee schedule, and cancelation policy.

Here are a few code examples:

• Bothell Municipal Code Ch. 3.40
• Grandview Municipal Code Ch. 2.75
• Kettle Falls Municipal Code Ch. 12.16 – See Sec.12.16.020 (Reservation for Park Use), and Sec.12.16.025 (Rental Policy for Community Room and Kitchen).

Here are a couple of administrative policy examples:

• Bellevue Parks & Community Services Facility Rental Guidelines (2020)
• Yelm Community Center Rental Policies (2017)

You can find more examples on MRSC's Public Facility Rental and Use page, through a Google search of the General Code site (formerly Code Publishing) (e.g., see search results) and/or through our city website search tool (e.g., see search results).

MRSC recommends that local government agencies treat timber as “surplus” personal property, which means you would go through the typical process for surplus property. See our pages on Surplus City or Town Property, Surplus County Property, or Surplus Property for Special Purpose Districts. Ideally, your agency's governing body (such as your city council or your board of commissioners, if you are a county) has already adopted a procedure for surplusing property. If not, the government body can declare the property surplus via a resolution.

Once the governing body declares the timber surplus, it can direct an administrative official to dispose of the property in any commercially reasonable manner, i.e. selling the wood for a fair market value. If the timber is found to have little commercial value, then usually a finding can be made that allowing the person to haul away the timber and letting them keep it is less expensive than paying to have it hauled away and paying dump charges. This avoids any “gifting” concerns since the city is receiving a service (i.e. haulage) in exchange for the timber.

Here's an example resolution:

• King County Water District No. 90 Resolution No. 1042 (2018) – Authorizing disposal of surplus wood

Note that the RCW citation of the example above is specific to water districts. Your local government agency should cite the appropriate RCW that applies to your government agency type. Your agency's attorney should assist with the drafting of any resolution.

The addition of amenities like trees as part of Complete Streets is common and trade-offs are made based on local context. For example, if space constraints limit the ability to plant trees, reducing pavements widths on an excessively wide street provides an opportunity to add a tree belt or planted curb extension. See this 2023 Johns Hopkins study on narrow lanes.

Here are some examples of local programs and policies that reference amenity zones, street trees, etc., in their complete streets policies/programs:

• Arlington Complete Streets Policy (2018) – See 3.4.4 Amenity Zone. It notes “Typically, the minimum width necessary to support standard healthy street tree installation is 6 feet. The City’s Standard Plans allow for narrower tree pitch depth (4.5 feet minimum), but additional rooting space is recommended.” Page 74 (of PDF, not page number) includes a table for street element priorities, including amenity zones.
• Battle Ground Municipal Code Ch. 12.117 – Includes street trees, landscaping, planting strips, and other amenities in their definition of complete streets infrastructure. See Sec. 12.117.040 for information on complete streets infrastructure. (Connell, Wapato and West Richland have similar language in their codes).
• Kenmore Municipal Code Ch. 12.45 – See their policy in Sec. 12.45.020, which notes that street trees and planting strips are a traditional tool.
• Kent Municipal Code Ch. 6.14 – Recommends consulting arborists on designs including street trees.
• Longview Municipal Code Ch. 12.70 – See Sec. 12.70.050, Complete streets infrastructure. It notes trees and landscaping as one of several design features.
• Pacific Municipal Code Ch. 13.26 – See Sec. 13.26.030, Objectives, which includes street trees as a complete streets network objective.
• Renton Municipal Code Sec. 4-6-060 – The Minimum Design Standards Table for Public Streets and Alleys notes that street trees are required per RMC Sec. 4-4-070. F.8 notes that greater sidewalk widths with provisions for street trees and other landscaping may be required in certain areas.
• Tacoma
  • GreenRoads – The city became the first GreenRoads Community in 2014. GreenRoads is a rating system for measuring and managing sustainability on infrastructure projects, including streets (see the Sustainable Transport Council’s GreenRoads Rating System).
  • Mixed-Use Centers Complete Streets Design Guidelines (2009) – See Amenity Zone standards on pages 37, 41, 47 of the PDF.
  • Residential Streets Complete Streets Design Guidelines (2009) – Page 31 of the PDF includes a photo with the note “Planting strips that are a minimum of 6 feet in width accommodate healthy tree growth and provide opportunities for additional landscaping.” See Section 2.3.4, Landscaping and Street Trees.

Stormwater best management practices (BMP), like roadside bioretention/rain gardens and bioswales are another area to look at for guidance (see bioretention section starting on pg. 687 of King County’s 2021 Surface Water Design Manual and Bothell’s Bioswales page). Your city’s stormwater engineer and Ecology can provide guidance on incorporating low impact development (LID) and stormwater BMPs into ROW. This LID presentation from Ecology’s LID guidance page includes reduced road width and changes in road layout and orientation as potential code amendments for implementing LID principles.

Tree planting programs also include standards that may be helpful. Everett provides ROW tree spacing and location guidelines, for example (see Everett’s Right of Way Street Tree Spacing and Location Guidelines (2019)).

And here are a few additional resources:

• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): Green Streets Handbook (2021) – Includes design considerations for green stormwater practices like bioretention, bioswales, and stormwater planters and tree systems.
• National Association of City Transportation Officials: Complete Streets are Green Streets – Includes user considerations and green stormwater infrastructure benefits and solutions.
• EPA: National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) - Stormwater Best Management Practice, Street Design and Patterns (2021) – Includes siting and design considerations.

Liability and risk management questions are beyond the scope of MRSC’s general legal guidance. However, we can provide the following general comments. First, your risk management insurer will likely have resources regarding how to manage risks and maintain these public trails in a way that is reasonably safe. We suggest contacting them right away.

It is important to have a maintenance plan where regular inspections are performed, and potential hazards are documented and repaired promptly. This could be similar to how the city manages its public streets and sidewalks. When notice of a hazard is received, either via inspections or reports by employees or members of the public, then temporary and permanent repairs should be made. Warning signs, cones, temporary paint, caution ribbon, etc. are options, as are closing portions of a trail if adequate warning signs are not enough to protect users from a particular safety hazard.

Regarding municipal liability for streets, sidewalks, and bridges, there are pattern civil jury instructions in WPI chapter 140, that set forth the law about these duties:

WPI 140.01 – Sidewalks, Streets, Bridges and Roads—Duty of Governmental Entity

The [county] [city] [town] [state] has a duty to exercise ordinary care in the [design] [construction] [maintenance] [repair] of its public [roads] [streets] [sidewalks] [bridges] to keep them in a reasonably safe condition for ordinary travel.

WPI 140.01.01 – Duty of Governmental Entity to Remove or Correct a Hazardous Roadway Condition

The [county's] [city's] [town's] [state's] duty includes a duty to take reasonable steps to remove or correct hazardous conditions that make a [road] [street] [sidewalk] [bridge] unsafe for ordinary travel [including hazardous conditions that may exist along the [road] [street] [sidewalk] [bridge]].

Similar jury instructions would likely apply for claims about incidents on public walking paths and trails.

We recommend you consult with your city attorney and your risk pool insurance representative(s). They are in the best position to help with risk prevention and management in relation to the city’s walking trails.

The responses to the poll MRSC conducted asking if cities use chip seal on arterials are presented in these Poll Results Tables. They are organized by “yes” and “no” with comments included, as well.

State law does not address the use of metal detectors in city parks. However, there are state statutes and regulations related to the use of metal detectors in state parks. For example, the State Parks and Recreation Commission must allow the use of recreational metal detectors within a certain minimum acreage of state parks. See, e.g., RCW 79A.05.190 and RCW 79A.05.195. And WAC 352-32-235 provides administrative rules regarding the use of metal detectors in state parks.

Whether and how metal detectors may be used in city parks/public property will be a matter of local policy. The city is not required to allow use of metal detectors on city property. Conversely, if the city wanted to allow use of metal detectors in such areas, the city could do so but should establish clear guidelines regarding their use.

Below are some examples of local regulations related to use of metal detectors on city property:

• Buckley Municipal Code Sec. 10.84.195 – Metal detectors are limited to daylight hours and with registration.
• Burien Municipal Code Sec. 7.30.010 – A permit is required, unless the device is used on unimproved park lands.
• Jefferson County Municipal Code Sec. 12.25.210 – Allowed in certain parks with a permit.
• Port Angeles Municipal Code Sec. 12.04.140 – Coin recovery allowed with a permit.

MRSC has the following webpages that should be a good starting off point for your research:

• Surplus Property for Special Purpose Districts
• Asset Management Policies

We ran a custom City & County Websites Search using the search term “community yard sale” and found these search results for city examples and these search results for county examples. We did an additional search using the phrase “community garage sale” and found these additional search results.

The Marysville Junk in the Trunk event webpage provides a lot of information, including an online registration option and a downloadable Vendor Registration Form (PDF file download). There is a disclaimer included on the form as well as a list of vendor guidelines that may be helpful. Both pages must be signed by the applicant.

If you have questions specifically about liability disclaimer language, we recommend talking to your city attorney as well as your risk pool/insurer. They will be in the best position to advise the city.

MRSC is aware of no federal or state statute that requires the town to display the U.S. and State flag when the town offices are closed unless it is one of the days where those flags are required to be displayed along with the POW/MIA flag.

Courts have interpreted the U.S. Flag Code to be advisory only and there are no penalties for violating it. RCW 1.20.017 requires public entities (including towns) to display the POW/MIA flag along with the U.S. and state flag only on specific days. RCW 1.20.017 does not contain any exception that would allow the town to not display the flags on those days if the town hall were not open for business. MRSC has an extensive summary page on this issue: Flag Display. But you should also consult your town attorney to see if there are any town codes or policies related to display of flags that you need to consider.

It does not surprise me that you are seeing different approaches in different towns’ ordinances. This is because town councils have broad authority to dispose of real estate in any commercially reasonably way (RCW 35.27.010 and RCW 35.27.370(2)). This includes listing for sale, putting it out to auction, direct or private negotiation with an interested buyer, etc. We have some best practices tips available on our page Surplus City or Town Property. An important tip is to get an appraisal of the property so you know what a fair market value is and the value you should receive in exchange for the property. An auditor will be looking for whether the town has adopted policies or procedures, and whether those policies or procedures were followed. We encourage cities and towns to adopt surplus property disposal policies and then follow them, but in their absence, you can always get authorization from your town council for this specific sale and your council can direct you how to go about selling this particular parcel.

With respect to flag display, there are legal requirements and there is etiquette (which is also very important in this topic area). As we note on our Flag Display webpage, RCW 35A.21.180 requires code cities to display the US and Washington flags at city buildings. In addition, each public entity must display the US, Washington, and POW/MIA flag upon or near its principal building on certain enumerated days pursuant to RCW 1.20.017.

Those are the legal requirements. Regarding flag display etiquette, our webpage has the following:

• According to the Washington Secretary of State, the Washington State flag should be displayed in the highest position of honor after the U.S. flag and the flags of any other nations. It should be displayed in a higher position of honor than the flags of other states, counties, cities, or any other entity.
• When the U.S., Washington State, and POW/MIA flags are flown on a single pole, the U.S. flag should be on top, followed by POW/MIA flag and then the state flag. (The state Department of Veterans Affairs changed this protocol in 2017 - previously, the POW/MIA flag was flown under the state flag.) If there are two poles, the POW/MIA flag should be flown under the U.S. flag while the state flag is on the other pole. For more information, see the Department of Veterans Affairs' POW/MIA Flag Display webpage.

Based on that, if the City has more than one flagpole, then we agree that when the POW/MIA flag is flown, it should be flown directly under the U.S. flag in the highest position of honor as detailed in the U.S. Flag Code, 4 U.S.C. Section 7. (The Flag Code has been interpreted by courts as being advisory in nature, which is why it is referred to as etiquette instead of a legal requirement.) The Flag Code provides:

• When the flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the flag of the United States should be hoisted first and lowered last. No such flag or pennant may be placed above the flag of the United States or to the United States flag’s right.

The State flag would therefore be flown on a different flagpole to the left of the U.S. Flag, with the City flag below the State flag.