Chico takes steps to start camp for the homeless

CHICO » Another long night in the Chico City Council Chambers seemed unavoidable Tuesday, with many issues from two weeks prior — including a long list of proposals to address the city’s housing and homelessness struggles.

The night began with prayer from Chico Police Chaplain Bud Chauvin. Mayor Ann Schwab then asked if the council wanted to move anything on the “ambitious” agenda for another night, thoughshe said she andCityManager Mark Orme felt it could be handled in four hours.

However, Councilor Sean Morgan said he felt Schwab’s time estimates were likely half as long as needed. Schwab thenmoved to hold the Policing Advisory Committee report, on the Chico Police Department current use of force policy, to the following meeting, which was seconded by Vice Mayor Alex Brown. With councilors Karl Ory and Randall Stone voting against, this passed 5-2.

Morgan asked if the item on the Airport Commission’s revised leasewas time sensitive. The item was moved to the next meeting by 5-2, with Ory and Stone voting against.

Funding homelessness strategies

After hearing a special proposal from city staff and multiple non profits Sept .22, at last the council heard the revised Quality of Life plan proposing using nearly 2 million for addressing homelessness in Chico.

City Manager Mark Or me said not all plans can meet the challenge of homelessness in the city, but local government has to with limited resources. He announcedhe will enact an emergency order to use public land to allow temporary emergency camping, using land on the west side of the Chico airport which has been used for camping before.

This campsite would cost about $700,000 for 90 days. The city is considering

buying a vehicle for use to shuttle people to the campground and possibly other resources, through Butte County Association of Governments as Safe Space Winter Shelter did. The site will have restrooms available, and the city is hoping to acquire showers and a tent for cooling or warming.

People will choose between the temporary, socially distanced campground or shelter with True North Housing Alliance. Orme said he hopes the latest the temporary campground would be open until is Jan 31, with security and set rules.

The plan is designed to enforce nomore camping in parks, offering either a shelter or an emergency campground as alternatives for each individual to choose from to stay. Those who refuse to choose either alternative will be cited and asked to move within 48 hours, Assistant City Manager Chris Constantin said.

There was no voiced council support of the airport location for this plan, with varying amounts of concern about its many parts.

Morgan said the survey put out to get necessary public engagement on homelessness and the city's quality of life plan was unprofessional and “not necessary.” He moved for staff to continue drafting strategies for the Quality of Life plan.

Huber moved to approve all of the funding proposals other than $700,000 for the campsite, towait until “a workable spot” can be found, using $100,000 to assess the current BMX location.

After hearing more from Joy Amaro of True North about pending funding from the state during COVID-19, the council chose to unanimously approve Huber's motion.

Housing

The housing commit

tee's set of recommendations had been stalled for over six months in part due to COVID-19. Stone, Huber and Ory presented the exhaustive report prepared by Ory, on addressing what Stone called the city's “affordable housing crisis.”

Ory said he recommends at the next meeting to consider whether upcoming special projects “will lead to greater inequities in our housing market” and revising the city's general plan given a high unexpected city population.

Huber addedwhilemany housing projects are underway, the real problem is if any affordable housing will alsomaterialize — “frankly I couldn't afford to live here, if I was just starting out.”

“We have a responsibility to encourage developments to build housing that's affordable,” Stone said. “I think the revenue is there … but there's no pledge to do so.”

Schwab agreed that inclusionary zoning could be done in a variety of ways.

CouncilorKasey Reynolds disagreed with inclusionary zoning as being a viable solution. Morgan disapproved of the motion entirely, mostly due to disagreeing with the idea of inclusionary zoning. In his view affordable housing is impossible to achieve in Chico “because we're in California,” he said.

The motion to approve the report, bring inclusionary zoning to the planning commission staff and see if incentives can be considered and used, passed 5-2, with Reynolds and Morgan voting against.

Other business

The council also approved:

• Using a surplus from the 2019-2020budget to allocate $5,693,815to the Emergency Reserve and the Compensated Absence Reserve;

• Revising intent to terminate the lease with Silver Dollar BMXat Silver Dollar Fairgrounds to an extendedmonth tomonth termination basis;

• A modification to the supplemental budget for 20202021(funding Police Crisis Intervention Team training and an increase of Waste Hauler Franchise Fees) with a recommendation to amend the appendix modifying fulltime allocations for the City Manager’s office;

• To extend an agreement between Chico and Downtown Chico Property Based Business Improvement District for implementing a Management District Plan which would provide $17,467to the district.

The next regular meeting will take place 6 p.m. Nov. 3 in the City Council Chambers at 421 Main St. in Chico.