Chapter 10.74
CAMPING ON PUBLIC Property
Sections:
10.74.050 Regulation of public property in relation to camps and camping.
10.74.070 Unattended personal property on city property prohibited.
10.74.010 Purpose.
This chapter defines regulations for use of public property as it relates to camps and camping and leaving unattended personal belongings on public property. [Ord. 1706 § 1, 2024.]
10.74.020 Short title.
This chapter shall be known as the “Regulation of Public Property with Respect to Camps and Camping (Time, Place, and Manner) Ordinance.” [Ord. 1706 § 2, 2024.]
10.74.030 Definitions.
Unless the context specifically requires otherwise, as used in this section, the following words and phrases mean:
“Available” means a shelter that has space for a particular person. A shelter is not available to a person if the shelter:
(a) Has a maximum stay rule or temporal requirement or deadline the person has exceeded or not met;
(b) The person is excluded from the shelter for any lawful reason;
(c) Cannot reasonably accommodate the person’s mental health or physical needs;
(d) Is unavailable due to the person’s family status, age, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation;
(e) Excluding general rules that prohibit alcohol or drug use in the shelter or on shelter grounds, is unavailable to the person because the shelter has rules about alcohol or drug use that the person does not meet;
(f) May prohibit a minor child to be housed in the same facility with at least one parent or legal guardian;
(g) Requires participation in religious activity or receipt of religious information or religious teaching the person does not wish to participate in or receive; or
(h) Requires a person to leave their pet(s) unattended in order to stay at the shelter. This section does not apply to service animals under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“Camp” or the act of “camping” means to pitch, erect, create, build, use, or occupy camp materials for the purpose of establishing or maintaining a temporary place of habitation
“Camp materials” means, but is not limited to, tents, huts, awnings, lean-tos, shacks, or other structures, or parts thereof, tarps or tarpaulin, chairs, cots, beds, sleeping bags, blankets, sleeping or bedding materials, food or food storage items, and/or similar items that are or appear to be used for and aid living and/or sleeping outdoors. “Camp materials” does not include vehicles, automobiles, or recreational vehicles used for shelter and/or sleeping, which are regulated by CMC 10.52.210 and 11.24.150.
“Campsite” means any place where there is a tent, or any structure or assembly of camp materials consisting of a top or roof or any other upper covering and enclosed on one or more sides, that is of sufficient size for a person to fit underneath or inside.
“City building” means all facilities and their surrounding grounds, owned, leased, rented, contracted, used, managed, or controlled by the city.
“City parking lot or parking structure” means a developed or undeveloped area or facility owned, maintained, or leased by the city that is designated for the parking of vehicles.
“City property” means all real property leased, rented, contracted, used, managed, or controlled by the city.
“Pedestrian ways” means any sidewalk, walking path, plaza, alley, parking structure or parking area, or other way designed and regularly used for pedestrian travel, any planter strip or landscaped area located adjacent to or contained within streets, plazas, alleys, or other ways, and includes that portion of public rights-of-way used for the parking of vehicles, but does not include that portion of public rights-of-way regularly and traditionally used for vehicular travel.
“Personal property” means tangible items which are reasonably recognizable as belonging to individual persons and which have apparent utility or value.
“Public way” means any highway, roadway, street, alley or other way designed and regularly used for vehicular travel but excluding that portion of public rights-of-way used for the parking of vehicles.
“Rest” means to pause from exertion by stopping, sitting, lying or sleeping.
“Shelter” means a developed or legally established public or private facility for people experiencing homelessness that does not charge for shelter or services.
“Travel” means movement by foot on a pedestrian public way, from one point to another, without delay other than to obey traffic control devices, or by vehicle on a public way, from one point to another without delay other than to obey traffic control devices. [Ord. 1706 § 3, 2024.]
10.74.040 Camping prohibited.
(1) Camps and camping are prohibited on city property when shelter is available to the person in the camp or the person who is camping.
(2) This section does not prohibit resting on or within city property in a manner that does not create a camp or constitute camping, so long as such use does not obstruct public ways or pedestrian ways or access to city buildings or city parking lots or parking structures for their usual and customary purposes. [Ord. 1706 § 4, 2024.]
10.74.050 Regulation of public property in relation to camps and camping.
(1) Persons in camps or who are camping on city property because they do not have shelter available may use city property for resting or camping subject to the following regulations.
(2) Time. Camps, camping, or resting may occur upon designated city property between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. the following day.
(3) Place.
(a) In addition to the prohibitions set forth in CMC 10.74.040, camps and camping are not allowed at any time in the following places:
(i) Within city buildings and city parking lots and parking structures.
(ii) Within 500 feet of a school unless specifically designated as an authorized space by the city.
(iii) On any pedestrian way.
(iv) On any public way.
(b) The designated city property where camps and camping are authorized is:
(i) Foster Park as described in the city of Clarkston parks and recreation plan adopted September 12, 2022.
(c) Additional city properties may be identified and designated by the mayor or city administrator as the need arises.
(4) Manner.
(a) A camp or camping, when and where allowed by this chapter, is subject to the following:
(i) A campsite must be limited to camp materials necessary to protect an individual from the elements. This section is intended to allow a camping individual to sleep and maintain essentials for living but prohibits storage of personal property not essential to living while camping, including but not limited to items such as building materials, scrap metal, more than one operable bicycle per camper, bicycle components not associated with an individual bicycle, gasoline, generators, lumber, household furniture, more than one propane tank, or other combustible materials.
(ii) A campsite must be limited to one structure per individual or household and include camping materials that occupy no more than 64 square feet per campsite.
(iii) Individuals who camp or who are camping may not accumulate more than 15 gallons of garbage, debris, trash, unsanitary or hazardous materials, or items of no apparent utility.
(iv) All garbage, debris, trash, unsanitary or hazardous materials, or items of no apparent utility must be appropriately stored in a contained manner.
(v) Items presenting a danger to others, including uncontained sharps, uncontained human waste or unauthorized connections or taps to private or public utilities are prohibited.
(vi) Open flames, recreational fires, burning of garbage, and bonfires are prohibited. Contained flames for cooking as permitted by the city of Clarkston, or the fire department, may be permitted on a case-by-case basis.
(vii) Dumping of gray water (i.e., wastewater from bathwater, sinks and cooking) or black water (sewage) on city property is prohibited.
(viii) Obstruction or attachment of camp materials to public infrastructure or private property structures, including bridges or bridge infrastructure, fire hydrants, utility poles, streetlights, traffic signals, signs, fences, trees, vegetation, vehicles or buildings is prohibited.
(ix) Digging, excavation, terracing of soil, or other alteration of city property, or damage to vegetation or trees is prohibited.
(x) Activity punishable under the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) as a crime including but not limited to assault, arson, burglary, disorderly conduct, malicious mischief, failure to register as sex offender, harassment, homicide, kidnapping, littering, opening or consuming liquor in a public place, possession or use of a controlled substance, prostitution, public indecency, reckless burning, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, robbery, stalking, theft is prohibited.
(b) In addition to the limitations set forth in subsection (4)(a) of this section, camping, when allowed, shall be subject to the following:
(i) A camp, camping or camp materials may not obstruct any portion of any street, bike lane, or bike path intended for travel for vehicle, bicycle, pedestrian or other legal mode of travel or impair unobstructed use thereof;
(ii) A campsite or camp materials may not be located in the right-of-way in any location that does not have a curb or other physical barrier separating the campsite or camp materials from the area intended for vehicular use;
(iii) A campsite or camp materials may not obstruct that portion of the sidewalk, multi-use path or pedestrian path in a manner that results in less than 36 inches of unobstructed area for passage or in any other way that impairs access as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act;
(iv) A campsite or camp materials may not create a physical impairment to emergency ingress or egress or emergency response including within 15 feet of any fire hydrant, utility pole, or other utility, fire gate/bollards, or public infrastructure used for emergency response;
(v) A campsite or camp materials may not create a physical impairment to nonemergency vehicular or pedestrian ingress or egress including within 10 feet of driveways, or 10 feet of entrances or exits from buildings and other real property; and
(vi) A campsite or camp materials may not occupy any portion of the public right-of-way under or within a bridge, culvert or viaduct or within 10 feet of a bridge, culvert or viaduct.
(c) Nothing in this section is intended to prevent the regulation of camping on a temporary or permanent basis on any city property when such regulation is necessary to maintain the ability of everyone to use a public space as designed and intended or for a planned or limited public purpose including capital construction, maintenance, repair, property transfer or during an event or special use.
(d) The city administrator may exempt a special event from compliance with this section in accordance with Chapter 10.52 CMC. [Ord. 1706 § 5, 2024.]
10.74.060 Penalties.
(1) A violation of this section is declared to be:
(a) Criminal trespass in the second degree (RCW 9A.52.080), a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail, $1,000 fine, or both.
(i) An arrest for criminal trespass in the second degree may be accompanied by an order of exclusion for six months.
(b) A public nuisance under CMC 10.56.010, subject to abatement by the city under CMC 10.56.020 and fines and imprisonment under CMC 10.56.040.
(2) The court shall consider in mitigation of any punishment imposed upon a person convicted of prohibited camping whether the person immediately removed the campsite upon being cited.
(a) For purposes of this subsection, removal of the campsite shall include all litter, including but not limited to bottles, cans, garbage, rubbish and items of no apparent utility, deposited by the person in and around the campsite. All litter in and around the campsite shall be presumed to be deposited by the person convicted of prohibited camping. Such presumption shall be rebuttable, however.
(b) A violation of this section shall result in the removal of the campsite by the city.
(i) All garbage, debris, trash, unsanitary or hazardous materials, items of no apparent utility, or items illegal to possess which are left at the campsite will be immediately disposed of.
(ii) All personal property which is legal to possess shall be retained and stored by Clarkston police department according to RCW 63.21.05 and its own internal policies and procedures for the storage and disposition of found property.
(iii) Controlled substances will not be returned to persons without a valid prescription.
(iv) Cannabis products will not be returned regardless of a valid prescription.
(v) Personal property removed by the city pursuant to this section shall be stored for 90 days during which time it must be made reasonably available to the owner. The 90-day retention period of this subsection does not apply to personal property that is unsafe, unsanitary, or perishable.
(vi) Property must be claimed within 90 days of removal, or the property will be destroyed. [Ord. 1706 § 6, 2024.]
10.74.070 Unattended personal property on city property prohibited.
(1) It is unlawful for any person to knowingly leave personal property unattended on public property, including public and pedestrian ways.
(2) The prohibitions of subsection (1) of this section do not apply to:
(a) Personal property that is actively being loaded or unloaded; or
(b) Any person performing a city-approved or permitted activity.
(3) Property left unattended on a public right-of-way in violation of this section may be immediately removed, retained, and stored by the city in accordance with CMC 10.74.060(2)(b).
(4) The city manager may develop additional administrative policies for the removal of unattended personal property from public spaces, the storage of said property, and procedures by which the property may be reclaimed.
(5) Nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting the city’s ability to seize, remove, abate, or dispose of property in accordance with any other provision of ordinance or state law. [Ord. 1706 § 7, 2024.]