Jessica Cejnar Andrews / Thursday, June 29, 2023 @ 12:19 p.m. / Homelessness, Oregon
Curry County Sets Rules For Homeless Camping Just Before State Law Takes Effect
Wednesday's special Curry County Board of Commissioners meeting
Documents:
• Curry County Camping Regulations
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Just before approving an ordinance that prohibits camping on public property between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., Curry County commissioners said they wanted to encourage neighboring jurisdictions, including cities, to pass similar policies.
Curry County and other local governments in Oregon had a July 1 deadline to meet requirements set down in House Bill 3115, state legislation passed in 2021 that set restrictions on how municipalities can enforce anti-camping laws.
At a special meeting Wednesday, Curry County Commissioner Jay Trost said he wanted to organize a community meeting to “discuss a solid direction countywide.” He pointed out that resources in Curry County are limited. Trost said he also wanted to communicate with state agencies including the Oregon Department of Transportation and Oregon State Parks.
“We we need to get our communities together and we need to have a similar policy across the county, if we’re going to have some levels of mutual aid, which we already do, amongst our law enforcement agencies,” he said, adding that it wouldn’t make sense for the Curry County Sheriff’s Office to have to enforce a separate set of rules when they enter Gold Beach or one of the county’s other cities. “Then we can have a discussion and possibly come to some agreements countywide with all of our law enforcement jurisdictions of how accountability will be measured.”
Trost and his colleagues John Herzog and Brad Alcorn approved the ordinance, which authorizes camping in unincorporated areas of the county “subject to supervision and regulation during reasonable time periods.”
Curry County’s ordinance also refers to HB 3115’s requirement that it enacts a policy recognizing the “social nature of the problem of homeless individuals camping on public property” and whose regulations are “objectively reasonable.”
Under the county’s ordinance, campsites must be packed up, cleared of camping materials and trash and vacated no later than 6 a.m. Storing personal belongings on public property between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. is prohibited as is knowingly leaving personal property unattended between those hours.
County Counsel and Director of Operations Ted Fitzgerald said he had written a set timeframe into the ordinance to ensure that the county can enforce it. He said his goal is to limit the abuse of public property.
Fitzgerald also brought up the idea of those who are homeless signing up for a registry if they’re going to avail themselves of county resources.
“You should be on a registry so we can coordinate and find out what resources you’re using and what you need to resolve the issue of using public resources that, because of the choices you have made, you’re now requiring the residents of Curry County to participate with you in,” he said. “We should definitely try to move in that direction.”
County Treasurer David Barnes objected to the 6 a.m.-10 p.m. camping prohibition in the new ordinance.
“Ten p.m. to 6 a.m. is fine during the summer when sunset is at 9 and it’s still light out at 10 p.m.,” Barnes said. “I question the objectively reasonable part once it becomes December and you’re not allowing people to set up camp or pitch a tent until 10 p.m.”
According to Trost, HB 3115 was Oregon’s response to Martin v. Boise, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals 2019 ruling governing sleeping on public property. A lot of communities didn’t know how to respond to that ruling, Trost said, and HB 3115 was Oregon’s answer.
“I want to make it clear, it’s not a violation or against the law to be homeless and no one should be punished for that,” Trost said. “However, when you desecrate the resources, leave trash behind, paraphernalia for kids to get into — I have a bucket at (Brookings) that I’ve pulled out during these discussions full of needles that I had collected from KidTown or various areas around there, and I’m not talking about a small bucket — so it is a large issue.”
Curry County’s ordinance also restricts campsite locations and sizes. A campsite shall be no larger than 100 square feet with all property contained within that space, according to the ordinance.
Campsites are also prohibited in a park or athletic field, within 1,000 feet of a school, within 250 feet of a waterway or playground, within 75 feet of an intersection, according to Curry County’s ordinance. Campsites also cannot obstruct sidewalks, roads, bike lanes or bike paths and must be within 4 feet of the shoulder of any road that doesn’t have a curb.
Camping on county property that’s closed to the public is also prohibited, according to the ordinance.
In addition to governing camping regulations at the local government level, HB 3115 allows those who are homeless to sue municipalities in order to challenge the “objective reasonableness” of their ordinances.
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