Smith Rock neighbors voice concerns, start petition over street parking, safety issues

TERREBONNE, Ore. (KTVZ) -- With travel restrictions easing, Smith Rock State Park, Central Oregon's world-renowned climbing spot, is again drawing big crowds -- and that's brought an all too familiar safety issue for neighbors, of parked cars lining nearby streets.

"The parking is getting worse," Al Dertinger, co-director of the Terrebonne Neighborhood Alliance, said Tuesday.

"I was down there this weekend. People are walking dogs, kids out on the street," he said. "People are having to swerve around them. You know, someone is going to get injured one of these days."

About five years ago, the alliance raised a similar issue and was able to get Deschutes County to prohibit parking on Crooked River Drive. But now, the visitors are instead parking on other nearby streets, including Northeast Wilcox Avenue.

"Our ultimate goal is to get parking off all of the streets and have it available in the park only -- and when there's no parking available, no one is able to gain access to the park until someone leaves," Dertinger said..

The alliance's petition urges the county to stop cars from parking on Wilcox Avenue, or allow it on only one side of the street, and also address the issue on 17th and 33rd streets.

They hope to get a few hundred signatures on the petition before presenting it to county commissioners.

Dertinger said he's hopeful new parking restrictions can be in place before the Fourth of July, one of the park's busiest weekends of the year.