Last week, the Grants Pass City Council voted to ban camping during the day starting on Jan. 10, but city staff have opted to wait until at least Jan. 24 to begin enforcing the policy, the Daily Courier reported.
Last Tuesday, in a meeting with 24-hour notice, a new mayor and four newly sworn-in councilors, the city council approved closing the city’s campsite on 755 SE J St. and restricted camping to a lot next to the police department at night only. Councilors voted for both changes to go into effect that Friday, but the Daily Courier reported on Sunday the city plans to wait until Jan. 24 to close the campsite and ban camping during the day.
City Manager Aaron Cubic didn’t respond to a call from Streetlight, but according to the Daily Courier, the city is using this time to look into its potential legal liability related to banning camping during the day.
During last week’s meeting, Interim City Attorney Mark Bartholomew recommended councilors hold off on making changes to the city’s camping policies, adding that he hadn’t had time to review the proposed changes to make sure they adhere to the state’s camping ban law.
Grants Pass’ current camping ban, which requires people to move from one camp to the other every week, was the subject of several letters from a disability rights attorney warning the city the policy put them at risk of a lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Unsheltered people with disabilities told Streetlight they’d received citations for not moving to the other camp.
Cubic said last year the city would need at least two campsites at any given time in case one of the camps needed to shut down because of an emergency.
Aside from the campsite changes last week, councilors shut down the city’s housing advisory board and canceled grants to homeless services provider Mobile Integrative Navigation Team (MINT) that would have led to the creation of the city’s first low-barrier homeless shelter.
Contact Streetlight editor Mollie Bryant at 405-990-0988 or bryant@streetlightnews.org. Follow her reporting by joining our newsletter.
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