Greeley city staff are preparing to present an ordinance to the city council to implement stricter camping restrictions.
While residents and city staff look at the proposed restrictions as a tool to deal with issues related to homelessness, others worry it would only inflame the issues leading to homelessness.
At a community meeting on Feb. 19, city staff, the City Attorney’s Office and the Greeley Police Department presented the ordinance, which would ban people from camping in public spaces without permission. The ordinance would also expand what would be considered camping, such as having fires or stoves in public spaces.
According to Bobbier Cranston, a senior attorney with the City Attorney’s Office, the city currently enforces camping restrictions when someone impacts the use of the space. Examples provided at the meeting included when people stay in parks past curfew, when they obstruct roadways or sidewalks or when they loiter.
The City Attorney’s Office discussed enacting stricter camping restrictions with the city council in October 2023. However, it wasn’t clear at the time what actions the city could take, as camping restrictions were considered cruel and unusual punishment on a federal level due to the city’s limited shelter availability.
This changed in July 2024 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in The City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson that cities have the authority to move people and address encampments that pose a health and safety risk.
Deputy Public Works Director Will Jones said the current homeless situation in Greeley poses such a threat.
Jones said the city cleans up encampments along bridges and waterways weekly, which has cost the city $115,000 in resources since 2023. These encampments pose a fire and health risk to the city, as open fires can quickly get out of control, and human waste in the waterways can introduce E. coli, he said. There are also impacts to city infrastructure.
“In 2022, we did have a pretty significant fire under the 11th Avenue and Poudre River Bridge,” Jones said. “That damage cost the city about $100,000, and we actually almost had to close the bridge because of the damage.”
Greeley Police Chief Adam Turk addresses a proposed camping ban at a community meeting on Feb. 19. (Courtesy/Screenshot of city of Greeley recording)When residents at the meeting asked what changes would be made to Greeley police officers’ responses, Greeley Police Chief Adam Turk said it wouldn’t change much.
According to Turk, when someone reports a homeless encampment, officers first educate and give a verbal warning. Only in situations where the person does not comply and the officers have to return would the person be given a citation. If police have to come out again, then they would make an arrest.
The camping ban would be “a tool in the toolbox” for police to connect those resources with people who may not want them, Turk said.
“The police department has no illusion that we wanna go arrest our way out of this problem,” he added.
The Greeley Police Department has a very strong partnership with North Range Behavioral Health, and the police will route the issue to them if no crimes are committed, Turk said.
If the camping ban goes through, the act of camping in public will itself be considered a crime in Greeley.
Some residents said this approach would cast too wide of a net.
“I think your definition of camping includes a lot of what looks like picnicking to me,” Greeley resident Ann la Plante said. “I think your definition is way too broad to potentially incarcerate someone or make them a criminal for doing things that many of us do regularly in Greeley.”
Greeley Director of Homeless Solutions Mandy Shreve shared that concern and explained during the presentation that the camping ban would not address the true root of the issue. Since 2019, home prices in Greeley have risen 29%, Shreve said, and wages in Greeley have not kept up with that rise.
Since the United Way of Weld County opened its cold weather shelter in November, 49% of the shelter’s guests have reported they’re experiencing homelessness for the first time, according to data shared at the meeting. The shelter will close down again next month, forcing the guests out onto the streets, and if this new ban is implemented, they will have nowhere to go, Shreve said.
“It’s not fair to the individual who now has to return back to living on the streets. It’s not fair to the community members who now have people camping in their parks. It’s a lose-lose in my opinion for the community,” she added.
Greeley resident Greg Yielding and others at the meeting said while the various homeless solutions were doing good work, they weren’t addressing residents’ frustrations or the people who don’t want any help.
“I understand and I appreciate everything that people are trying to do with their organizations to try and get people back on their feet,” Yielding said. “But some people don’t want to get back on their feet. We need a camping ban.”
Greeley city staff will present the ordinance to the city council on Tuesday during the council’s work session. The council will then decide the next steps.
The Greeley City Council’s work session will not be open for public comment, but members of the public can still attend in person at City Center North, 1100 10th St., or at greeleyco.portal.civicclerk.com.
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