A neighborhood’s bid to prohibit street parking in front of Robinson Beach in Freeland has failed.

Bill Oakes, director of Island County Public Works, said the proposal was put before the commissioners during a work session Wednesday and rejected.

“They were not interested in pursuing no parking there,” Oakes said.

Public works received a petition signed by 16 households — 21 total residents — that requested street parking along Robinson Road be closed to all but a few handicap spots. The petition cited traffic safety concerns for both motorists and pedestrians.

The park, which includes a boat launch that is about 300 feet off shoreline, was donated to Island County in 2013 by Frank Robinson, a South Whidbey native who went on to found the Robinson Helicopter Company in Los Angeles. While a parking lot that can hold an estimated 60 cars is about 300 feet away, many people park along the west and east sides of Robinson Road next to the park.

Activist groups, such as Whidbey Environmental Action Network and Island Beach Access, both submitted comments objecting to the parking restriction on the basis of reduced access to a public asset.

Oakes said the county commissioners not only declined to grant the petition request, but agreed to improve parking on the west side of the road — the beach side. Gravel will be put down, and the area expanded so vehicles can parallel park with enough space not to be in the roadway.