SEATTLE -- Attempts to remove hundreds of rats that surround two RV encampments in a Georgetown neighborhood where thwarted by the Seattle Department of Transportation, apparently because of a misstep in the permitting process.

The two separate encampments, located at Fidalgo Street and Padilla Place, and the other at Findley Street and 7th Avenue, have existed for over a year now and are four blocks apart and located amid a smattering of residential homes.

Although the parked RVs are considered homes for their owners they are surround by tons of discarded needles, trash and garbage, which have brought an influx of rodents to the area.

“Rats are a big issue,” said Ed Ball who lives in the area. “When we had the pest control company come, they guesstimated anywhere between 200 to 300 rats per camp.”

He said neighbors have reached out to Seattle City Hall about the rat issue but the problems continues to fester.

“They told us they were going to address it and get back to me," Ball said.

But residents decided not to wait and took matters into their own hands, collecting monetary donations to pay to hire a pest control company to eradicate the rodents.

Ball said the exterminators wanted to inject CO2 gas into the rat boroughs that surround the two camps rather than use poison. For safety, every person and pet had to temporarily leave the parking strips and sidewalk.

Ball applied for a permit with the Seattle Department of Transportation in order to acquire a temporary no parking zone that covered the four-block area that include both camps. The group paid $2,200 to rent no parking signs.

“Everything was going to plan until we put the signs up," Ball said. "Then the city said, 'No, we are not going to enforce this. We can't don't this, sorry.'”

Officials with the transportation department said Ball skipped a step when he applied online for the temporary, no parking permit.

“It appears that Mr. Ball went straight to the online form to create a public notice, skipping the steps necessary to apply for the underlying permit," a spokesperson for SDOT said. "Because this was done out of order, it did not result in a legally enforceable sign.”

But some people believe it was a vailed attempt to permanently remove the RVs from the neighborhood, which the city has allowed to remain for more than a year.

“There isn't as often a need to move as frequently as they did before,” the Rev. Bill Kirlin-Hackett, director of the Interfaith Task Force on Homelessness, said. “When they do move, blocks are put in’.

Many residential and industrial areas in Georgetown have routinely been placing 1,000 pound concrete blocks in parking strips where RVs tend to congregate. Sometimes the blocks are spaced out so just a car can fit in between but not an RV.

Ball says that wasn’t the intention and the no parking signs were just temporary.

“This is about safety for everyone," Ball said. "Not just the neighborhood but people who should not be living on top of piles of garbage and rats.”

Recently, SDOT took over responsibility from the Seattle Police Department for all parking enforcement in the city after the Seattle City Council took steps to defund the police budget.

Also, at play is a recent Washington State Supreme Court ruling which basically said any jurisdiction like the City of Seattle could not auction off an impounded vehicle if its owner declares the vehicle is their home.

The ruling has effective stopped all towing and impounding of RVs that have exceeded the city’s 72-hour parking law if it appears to be someone’s home.

The rat abatement work was to be completed this week. Instead, neighbors are frustrated because the rats remain along with the encampments.