MARYSVILLE – The city wants to increase its legal arsenal for dealing with people and property that are nuisances.

At its work session Oct. 6, the City Council looked at a proposed new law that would make it illegal to solicit pedestrians or motorists on public property or streets after sunset or before sunrise.

Mayor Jon Nehring said Oct. 7 that the city, just like all communities, is seeing an increase in people on the sides of busy roads asking for money.

The ordinance would make it illegal to solicit on off- or on-ramps to state highways and within 300 feet of major intersections, including on Highway 528, State Avenue and 172nd Street NE. It also would make it illegal so sell or give away items to people in vehicles in similar locations.

The reason for the law is because coercive solicitation causes fear and intimidation upon citizens, and harms tourism and businesses, the council agenda says. Also, solicitation at certain times and locations pose traffic and public safety risks.

“It’s unsafe, people darting in and out of traffic,” Nehring said, adding some business owners have called and emailed him about being threatened by some of the people. “There’s an increased risk of an accident,” especially as it gets darker.

As for nuisance properties, the agenda says: In Marysville, some owners allow their properties to be used for criminal purposes or in a manner that otherwise violates city codes. In some cases, the property owners allow these crimes to occur repeatedly despite continued police and code enforcement efforts.

Such “Chronic Nuisance Properties” present serious health, safety, and welfare concerns and interfere with the quality of life, comfort, and solitude of other people residing in the neighborhood. The activities often result in numerous service calls to the police, fire and other city departments. The numerous service calls create a financial burden to the city.

The city does not have laws that provide adequate tools to hold property owners responsible for correcting chronic nuisances. Such an ordinance is an effective tool to address these properties. Other jurisdictions that have adopted similar laws include: Everett, Shoreline, Renton, Burien, Seattle, Tacoma and Yakima.

A new law would warn property owners that they are potentially civilly and criminally liable if chronic nuisance activities continue. The warning would say that the property owner must take all steps to assist in abatement of the nuisance property, including pursuing eviction of the responsible persons.

As an example, it was mentioned that at one drug house police received six calls in 60 days. The new law would help police work with property owners, who would voluntarily comply and deal with the problem.

“In extreme circumstances where there is no desire to work with us then there could be fines or other measures,” the mayor said.