Chapter 8.08
CAMPGROUNDS AND CAMPERS
Sections:
8.08.030 Prohibited occupancy.
Prior legislation: Ords. 40 and 877.
8.08.010 Definitions.
A. "Apparent value or utility" in reference to personal property means property that is essential in practicality and significance to the owner’s daily life and well-being, and includes but is not limited to clothing, bedding, personal hygiene items, identification documents, and any tools or resources necessary for survival and meeting basic needs, maintaining dignity, and facilitating self-care. This definition does not include such property as nonfunctional or broken items, excessive or redundant items, hazardous or dangerous materials, or items with limited or no personal value.
B. "To camp" means to set up or to remain in or at a campsite.
C. "Campsite" means any place where bedding, sleeping bag, or other material used for bedding purposes, or any stove, fire, or cooking apparatus, other than in a designated picnic area, is placed, established, maintained, or occupied, so as to exclude the use of public property by the general public, whether or not such place incorporates the use of any tent, lean-to, shack, or any other structure, or any vehicle or part thereof.
D. "Established camping site" means a campsite that has been in its current location for at least seventy-two hours. In the absence of evidence regarding the age of a campsite, a camping site is presumed established.
E. "Designated space or shelter" means those areas to be delineated on a map in accordance with guidelines set by the city manager as permitted under Section 8.08.020(F). Standards for these guidelines will, at a minimum, ensure the presence of adequate shelter that is readily accessible by local public transit, and that is designed and reasonably operated for the purpose of protecting involuntarily homeless persons and other at-risk populations for up to seventy-two hours in one location.
F. "Involuntarily homeless" means a person who lacks access to suitable temporary shelter due to either financial inability or the unavailability of free, viable options.
G. "Occupy" or "occupancy" means to maintain physical control over a publicly owned area of fifty square feet or greater by a person or person’s private property, wherein the primary effect is to exclude the use of the public property by the general public for more than two hours. Occupancy does not include recreational park use.
(Ord. 1037 § 2, 2024)
8.08.020 Camping prohibited.
A. Except as otherwise provided herein, no person shall camp in or upon any sidewalk, street, alley, lane, public right-of-way, business front, park, playground, or any other publicly owned property or under any bridge or viaduct.
B. The prohibition on camping may be subject to the following exemptions:
1. A camping exemption due to an emergency as declared under state law or the powers granted to the city manager under law;
2. The offender is involuntarily homeless and a designated space or shelter is unavailable.
C. Camping is strictly prohibited under any circumstance that includes existence of a fire or gas stove, or when the campsite exceeds one hundred square feet (ten feet by ten feet), or when located:
1. On sidewalks;
2. Parks with playgrounds;
3. Within two hundred fifty feet of a preschool, kindergarten, elementary or secondary school, or a childcare center licensed, certified or authorized under ORS 329A.250 through 329A.460, ORS 418.205 through 418.970, and OAR 419-410-0010 through OAR 419-490-0170;
4. Within two hundred fifty feet of a designated space or shelter;
5. Within two hundred fifty feet of freeway entrances or exits;
6. Within one hundred fifty feet of other campsites;
7. Within one hundred yards of water or the waters of the state as defined by ORS 468B.005; or
8. Attached to any fence, trees, building, or vehicle.
D. Involuntarily homeless persons who use vehicles for shelter in a lawful parking space in the following circumstances:
1. The vehicle must be operational and must be moved at least one thousand feet from its original location every twenty-four hours.
2. The parking space cannot be within a one-hundred-foot radius of any residence.
3. No building or erecting of any structures connecting or attaching to vehicles is permitted, including tents that are not designed and manufactured to be attached to a vehicle.
4. Persons may not accumulate, discard or leave behind garbage, debris, unsanitary hazardous materials, or other items of no apparent utility in public rights-of-way, on city property, or on any adjacent public or private property.
5. All animals must be under the keeper’s control or otherwise leashed or crated at all times.
6. Dumping of gray water (i.e., wastewater from baths, sinks, and the like) or black water (i.e., sewage) into any facilities or places not intended for gray water or black water disposal is prohibited. This includes but is not limited to storm drains, which are not intended for disposal of gray water or black water.
E. Except as provided herein, the city will remove established campsites and unclaimed property having apparent value or utility from a campsite as provided by ORS 195.505.
1. The following campsites are subject to immediate removal:
a. Campsites that are not established;
b. Site contamination by hazardous materials, fire hazards, a public health emergency or other immediate danger to human life or safety;
c. The occurrence or presence of evidence of criminal activity or violation of this code (excluding this offense).
2. Property held having no apparent value or utility, unless hazardous, will be held for fourteen days upon the demand of owner, and processed as follows:
a. The owner may appeal the determination utilizing and in accordance with administrative review, Sections 8.06.280 through 8.06.300, seeking to have the determination rescinded and the property returned. The appeal notice shall specify the relief sought and the reason for said relief.
b. The hearing officer shall uphold the determination if, upon de novo review, the preponderance of the evidence establishes that the property does not meet the definition of having apparent value or utility according to Section 8.08.010(A).
F. The city manager has the authority to establish additional administrative rules regarding time, place, and manner regulations as deemed necessary to address particular situations arising from conditions affecting involuntarily homeless individuals, and that are intended to safeguard the safety, health, and welfare of both the general public and those who are involuntarily homeless.
(Ord. 1037 § 2, 2024)
8.08.030 Prohibited occupancy.
Subject to Section 8.08.020 or authorized permit, no person shall occupy a public area or street furniture in excess of the time period as provided in definition of "occupancy" defined under Section 8.08.010(G).
(Ord. 1037 § 2, 2024)
8.08.040 Violation--Penalty.
Any person who violates any provision of this chapter is subject to Chapter 1.20. Violation and enforcement are pursuant to a category Class C violation under ORS 153.012.
(Ord. 1037 § 2, 2024)