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The LaGrange City Council continued discussion on a potential homeless camping ordinance. During the previous work session in July, the council discussed a Supreme Court decision related to homeless camping in public parks and on public rights of way.

The Supreme Court recently cleared the way for an ordinance in Grands Pass, Oregon that prohibited sleeping on sidewalks, streets and alleyways, prohibited camping on public property and also prohibited camping in public parks. The Ninth Circuit court struck down the law saying it was an Eighth Amendment violation because they were not homeless by choice and there were not enough available beds, which meant that they were being prosecuted for their status.

That decision was later overturned by the Supreme Court allowing local jurisdictions to pass similar ordinances.

After some discussion, city staff prepared a draft ordinance based largely on preventing litter and the destruction of city property once homeless campers have moved along.

“It was based in large part on a Gwinnett County ordinance that has been around a while and prevents camping or storing personal property in city parks, streets and sidewalks or on other public property to the extent that it would block ingress and egress to and from buildings,” City Attorney Jeff Todd said.

In the initial draft ordinance, violators would not get a citation in the first occurrence and there has to be at least one warning given.

Police Chief Garrett Fiveash said he read through the ordinance and felt it falls in line with the case law allowed by the Supreme Court.

“I think it’ll be a fantastic tool for us. We’ve got a lot of issues and not a lot of teeth,” Fiveash said.

If the violators have previously been criminally trespassed from an area, they can be charged on the first offense as the trespass warning serves as their warning. The trespass warnings are property-specific though, so people can just go somewhere else and would need to be warned again before they can be charged, Fiveash said.

Councilman Mark Mitchel suggested removing the requirement to warn offenders and let officers use judgment on whether to issue a warning.

“If you’re going to make sure that the officers that we trust are using good, common sense when using this law instead of letting people bounce around … let’s give it some teeth if we are going to do it,” Mitchell said. 

“I think we don’t want to give it too much teeth. If you arrest a homeless person, you’ve got another problem because how are they going to get out?” Councilman Leon Childs said.

Fiveash suggested that if the offenders have been criminally trespassed from a nearby location then officers could forgo the warning.

City staff said the main issue isn’t people sleeping; it’s the mess they leave behind.

“It’s filth and a health hazard. They’ll take a perfectly good property and turn it into a landfill,” one staff member said. “I have not found any camps where they’re just camping in a tent and everything is hunky dory. Everywhere I’ve been is filled with filth.”

Ultimately, the draft ordinance was sent back for revision to allow officers to have discretion on whether to issue a warning or a citation on the first offense.