Lodi Council OKs ordinance banning tents from parks
The Lodi City Council unanimously approved an ordinance banning tents, shelters and enclosed structures in parks during it meeting Wednesday night. Councilman Bob Johnson was absent from the vote.
“I think its a nice start. We’re just having problems with people camping in our parks,” Councilman Doug Kuehne said. “Unfortunately, we’ve just had a lot of vagrants using our parks for tents, and public parks are for the public, not for camping.”
Councilwoman JoAnne Mounce was pleased with the ordinance, but said enforcement will be imperative in order to see changes in the city’s parks.
“We certainly don’t want anyone putting up a tent in a park and sleeping in it. I support it wholeheartedly. However, we’ve got to start enforcing theese laws,” she said.
Jeff Hood, the city’s parks, recreation and cultural services director, is pleased to finally have an ordinance banning tents and sees its passage as a huge aid to police and parks and recreation staff.
“We’re struggling to maintain our parks,” Hood said. “We had an issue on Monday where we had a group of individuals at Lawrence Park that refused to move for our lawn mower, so this just gives us another tool and gives the police another tool to help us maintain our parks and provide the service that our community expects.”
The ordinance will go into effect Aug. 17 and no tents, shelters or structures will be allowed in city parks unless there is an unobstructed view into the tent, shelter or structure from at least three sides. There is an exception for events that have a permit issued by the city.
With the ordinance, parks staff will be able to call police if they catch anyone in violation and either the homeless liaison or a park officer could respond to the scene. Hood said the intent is not to have people arrested and taken to jail, but to remove the shelter or tent so the public can have access to the entire park, and the maintenance staff can do their jobs without interference.
With a shortage of police officers, Hood said it’s unlikely officers will actively patrol for tents in the parks. He said he anticipates that the parks and recreation staff and maintenance workers will be the eyes and ears for police and notify them of any violations.
“I’m sure if a police officer is called to a park or sees something that is not legal, whether it’s a tent or anything else. I would anticipate that they would take the appropriate action,” Hood said.
The city has seen an increase in park visitors setting up tents or tarp shelters throughout the day. Staff has seen tents and other structures used as temporary dwellings, placed in parks and recreation areas near sports fields, neighborhood parks and Lodi Lake. City staff has also seen an increase in garbage, hypodermic needles and human waste around areas where tents and structures are commonly located, Hood said, noting that Lawrence Park, Kofu Park, Legion Park, Salas Park, Hale Park, the Lodi Softball Complex, Lodi Lake and Emerson Park are affected the most by this issue.
“We want to make sure that Lodi is livable and lovable for everybody, not just a handful or a certain segment of the population,” Kuehne said. “People are a little bit uneasy about going to a park when people are camping there.”
Mounce advises citizens not to let those camping there deter them from using the park.
“Don’t be afraid to go to our parks. Make everybody who shouldn’t be there uncomfortable. They’ll move on. They don’t want to do illegal stuff in front of people that will turn them in.”