Page
1
of
6
COA: Camping Ordinance
This bulletin is intended to provide guidance to officers on enforcing the revised City Code § 9- 4-11 (Camping and Obstruction in Public Areas Prohibited). This bulletin replaces the October 3 training bulletin regarding § 9-4-11 and updates the October 25 training bulletin.
On October 17, 2019, City Council made significant revisions to City Code § 9-4-11 (
Camping and Obstruction in Public Areas Prohibited
). The revised ordinance took effect on Monday, October 28, 2019. The Department is also distributing a Quick Reference Guide to assist officers.
This bulletin provides updated guidance and direction for Section (B)(2) of the ordinance. Amendments to the original bulletin are denoted by
highlighted text.
Note: This version of the ordinance shows with underlined text the parts that have been added, and shows with strikethrough text the word that has been deleted.
Annotated direction and guidance is demarcated with red text.
The Ordinance:
§ 9-4-11 Camping AND OBSTRUCTION in CERTAIN Public Areas Prohibited (A) In this section: (1) PUBLIC AREA means an outdoor area accessible to the public including a street, highway, park, parking lot, alleyway, pedestrian way, and the common areas of a school, hospital, apartment building, office building, transport facility, or business. (2) CAMP means the use of a public area for living accommodation purposes including: (a) storing personal belongings for an extended period of time;
T
he Code now provides that a person be “storing personal belongings for an extended period of time.” This might mean, for example, that a person is keeping their personal belongings in
a tent, structure, or place where it is apparent the person is not regularly moving the items.
AUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT
TRAINING BULLETIN Date: October 25, 2019 Revised: October 28, 2019
Page
2
of
6
(b) making a camp fire; (c) using a tent or shelter or other structure [or vehicle] for a living accommodation;
For the “using a tent or shelter” provision, the C
ode no longer makes a reference to using a
“vehicle.” This does not necessarily mean that a person can never camp in a vehicle. If
officers suspect a person is camping in a vehicle, they should look for other evidence that a person is camping there, including storing personal belongings for an extended period, having bedding in the vehicle, and carrying on activities of daily living in or near the vehicle.
(d) carrying on cooking activities; or (e) digging or earth breaking activities. (3) HOMELESS SHELTER means a supervised publicly or privately operated facility that is designed to provide temporary living accommodations for individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate residence while providing them with social services and other assistance to find a home and that is designated by the city as a shelter.
The City has designated only the ARCH as a "homeless shelter" for purposes of this ordinance. The Department will provide an updated list if and when the City designates additional facilities.
(B) Except as provided in Subsection (F), a person commits an offense if, after having been
notified
by a law enforcement officer that the conduct violates this section and having been given a
reasonable
opportunity by a law enforcement officer to correct the violating conduct, the person:
Like the prior version, the revised ordinance requires that an officer give a subject notice that he or she is viola
ting the “Camping” ordinance. The officer must also give the subject a
reasonable amount of time to cease the violating behavior prior to taking enforcement action. Giving the notice will typically satisfy any
mens rea
(intentional, knowing, or reckless) requirement.
Individuals who are violating the law must immediately comply with an officer’s direction to
correct the violation. Officers must give the individual a reasonable amount of time to achieve compliance by, for example, breaking down the campsite, eliminating the dangerous condition, or removing the obstruction. The circumstances will dictate what constitutes a reasonable amount of time for a subject to come into compliance. This will depend on the existing or potential hazard posed by the violation, the conditions, and the abilities of the offender. In general, a reasonable amount time to come into compliance will be the minimum time necessary to change the offending behavior or otherwise correct the violation. An officer can move or remove objects that are part of a campsite causing a dangerous obstruction or condition.
If the object is too large or cumbersome to immediately relocate, an officer can make a CAD notation and submit a service request via Dispatch to precipitate a pickup from the appropriate City department. Officers frequently encounter repeat offenders. Nonetheless, officers must give notice and reasonable opportunity to come into compliance for each new violation.
Page
3
of
6
(1) camps in a public area that is not designated as a camping area by the City of Austin and the person is: (a) materially
endangering
the health or safety of another person or of themselves; or
Endangering
–
Circumstances that might justify enforcement action under the
“endangering” prong include camping in a pu
blic area in a location or manner that:
requires pedestrians to step off of a sidewalk into a street to avoid an obstruction caused by a campsite;
requires pedestrians or others to step over objects or people that are part of a campsite, such that a pedestrian might trip and fall and injure themselves;
limits or prevents ingress or egress from a building onto the sidewalk (this could present a danger in the event of an emergency inside the building);
involves the use of flammable materials in making a fire underneath a highway or in proximity to other sensitive infrastructure;
involves the use of flammable materials (e.g., propane, kerosene, etc.) or making a fire during a burn ban;
is in a creek bed or other area prone to unpredictable flash flooding (the Department will provide additional guidance on specific locations of flood prone areas);
is close enough to a roadway where there is substantial risk that a car could leave the roadway and strike a person camping; or
involves the use of an indoor mattress(es) or other upholstered furniture that is not designed or appropriate for outdoor use. (The department is currently working with other city departments to put together the plan for implementation of this restriction and more information will follow).
(b) intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly rendering impassable or impeding the reasonable use of a public area making usage of such area unreasonably inconvenient or hazardous.
Blocking
–
Circumstances that might justify enforcement action under the rendering
“
unreasonably inconvenient or hazardous
” prong include camping in a public area in a
manner that:
blocks the sidewalk such that a person in a wheelchair or a person pushing a shopping cart or stroller could not use the sidewalk in a normal or expected manner;
fails to leave a straight path on the sidewalk for pedestrian use
(belongings or people cannot create a “zig
-
zagging” obstacle course on a
sidewalk); or
blocks or limits access to public infrastructure like parking spaces, parking pay stations, benches, bus stops, fire hydrants, etc. (the law does not prevent ordinary use of these areas for non-camping purposes). Importantly, subsection (D), outlined below, provides that a person is materially endangering his or her health or safety or that of another, or that the person is rendering impassable or impeding the reasonable use of the public area, if they are camping on a sidewalk. Accordingly, camping on a sidewalk is prohibited.