Chapter 9.46
CAMPING WITHIN CITY LIMITS
Sections:
9.46.040 Storage of personal property on public property.
9.46.050 Exemption for necessity.
9.46.010 Purpose and intent.
This chapter is intended to protect the public health, welfare, and safety by reserving open spaces and facilities within the city limits for their intended purposes. Public property within the city should be readily accessible and available to residents and the public at large. The use of these areas for camping purposes or storage of personal property interferes with the rights of others to use the areas for their intended purposes and is deleterious to the public peace, health, safety, and welfare. The use of these areas for camping obstructs the intended uses for the public at large, contributes to blight, and can cause damage to public property. This chapter is intended to avoid unsafe and potentially disorderly conditions, unsanitary and unhealthful conditions, and the degradation or destruction of open spaces and facilities within the city. (Ord. 574 § 1, 2019)
9.46.020 Definitions.
A. “Camping” means residing in or using any public property for one or more nights for living accommodation purposes, such as sleeping activities or making preparations to sleep (including the laying down of bedding for the purpose of sleeping), or storing personal belongings (including but not limited to clothing, sleeping bags, bedrolls, blankets, sheets, luggage, backpacks, kitchen utensils, cookware, and similar material), or making any fire or using any tents, or regularly cooking meals. These activities constitute camping when it reasonably appears, in light of all the circumstances, that a person is using public property as a living accommodation for one or more nights, with the intent to camp.
B. “Camp facilities” include, but are not limited to, tents, huts, or temporary shelters.
C. “Camp paraphernalia” includes, but is not limited to, tarpaulins, cots, beds, sleeping bags, hammocks, or non-city-designated cooking facilities and similar equipment.
D. “Public property” means any publicly owned property in the city, whether improved or unimproved, including, but not limited to, any of the following: public alleyways; public parking lots; public passageways; public streets; public rights-of-way; publicly owned, maintained, or operated parks; publicly owned, maintained, or operated landscaped areas or greenbelts; publicly owned, maintained, or operated open spaces including, but not limited to, public facilities or buildings of any kind; public sidewalks, curbs, and gutters; public educational institutions; or other government owned, maintained, or operated properties located within the city.
E. “Store” means to put aside or accumulate for use when needed, to put for safekeeping, to place or leave in a location. (Ord. 574 § 1, 2019)
9.46.030 Unlawful camping.
It shall be unlawful for any person to camp, occupy camp facilities, or use camp paraphernalia on any public property within the city, except as otherwise provided herein or mandated by applicable law. (Ord. 574 § 1, 2019)
9.46.040 Storage of personal property on public property.
It shall be unlawful for any person to store personal property, including camp facilities and camp paraphernalia, on any public property within the city, except as otherwise provided herein or mandated by applicable law. (Ord. 574 § 1, 2019)
9.46.050 Exemption for necessity.
The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to any individual camping by necessity, including, for example, those instances in which every shelter in the local area is at capacity and the individual in question is involuntarily homeless. In order to comply with applicable case law, the city manager may establish local guidelines to determine whether an individual is camping by necessity. (Ord. 574 § 1, 2019)