Novato to create authorized camp for homeless at park
Temporary site planned until lawsuit is resolved
The city of Novato and homeless residents at Lee Gerner Park have agreed to create a temporary sanctioned camp in the park until a lawsuit challenging the city’s new anti-camping rules is resolved.
Under the agreement approved by a federal judge on Monday, the city will create a fenced-in camping area on the eastern side of the park and provide amenities such as bathrooms, showers and onsite security. A 6-foot-tall wooden fence will be erected around the camping area, and residents will be required to follow a code of conduct or face being evicted.
The city must also offer to provide a two-person tent to each resident, though residents are not required to accept them.
The U.S. District Court of Northern California continues to prohibit the city from enforcing its recently approved camping restrictions for public lands, which it has done since issuing a temporary restraining order in July. However, city officials and county social workers are allowed to attempt to connect camp residents to temporary or permanent housing.
Jason Sarris, a park resident and the Novato chapter president of the California Homeless Union, which is representing the park residents in court, called the agreement a “big victory” for their community.
“This is what we’ve wanted since day one,” Sarris said on Tuesday. “We’ve asked for something like this, a place to be safe, a place where we won’t be criminalized, and I think we have accomplished this with this preliminary injunction.”
Novato Mayor Pat Eklund said the agreement will “provide a better place for the homeless that have been camping there yet allow for Lee Gerner Park to be brought back to the community.”
As to why the city entered into the agreement, City Manager Adam McGill said he cannot comment beyond what is included in a city announcement on Tuesday because of the ongoing litigation.
The new camping area is expected to be operational in 30 to 45 days, according to the city. City staff did not have an estimate on Tuesday of how much it will cost to build and maintain the camping area, including the additional services, but stated the project will be
paid for using federal stimulus funds it received from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Eklund said she is confident the court ultimately will uphold the city’s camping restrictions that were adopted earlier this year.
The agreement came one day before an evidentiary hearing was set to take place where both sides would argue whether the city should be allowed to enforce its camping rules as the lawsuit proceeds. The hearing has been canceled as a result of the agreement.
Anthony Prince, lead organizer and general counsel for the California Homeless Union, said he is confident the camp residents would have succeeded in continuing to block the ordinance had the hearing occurred and believes this is the reason the city entered into the agreement.
“They want to try to prevent his movement and they’re not going to prevent it,” Prince said at the park on Tuesday. “And we’re proof of that.”
Homeless residents have been living in the park off Novato Boulevard for several years, with the size of the camp increasing during the coronavirus pandemic. The park abuts a section of Novato Creek and is next to the Novato Library and several businesses.
The city did not remove the park residents during this time for two main reasons. Federal coronavirus guidelines recommend local governments refrain from relocating homeless campers in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Additionally, case law under the Martin v. Boise federal court case established in 2018 prohibits local governments in seven western states, including California, from prohibiting someone from sleeping on public land if no adequate shelter space is available.
In the face of continual concerns raised by residents and nearby business owners about the camp for more than a year, the Novato City Council approved two ordinances earlier this year limiting where people can camp on public lands and banning daytime camping.
The ordinances, adopted in June, would ban daytime camping between 7 and 9 a.m. and ban camping and related activities within 50 feet of streams, creeks and any facilities the city deems to be critical. The City Council defined these critical facilities to include government buildings, libraries, playgrounds, evacuation routes, utility equipment, schools and others.
Additionally, the city entered into an agreement with the homeless services organization Homeward Bound of Marin to reserve 15 shelter beds at its New Beginnings Center for residents of Lee Gerner Park. These beds would have allowed the city to evict Lee Gerner Park residents who refused referrals to Homeward Bound had the court not barred the city from enforcing its camping rules.
The ordinances delayed any enforcement until certain coronavirus cases dropped to certain levels in an effort to comply with federal health guidelines. City attorneys also stated the ordinance included reasonable restrictions that did not violate the Martin v. Boise case law.
Homeless residents in the park, represented by the California Homeless Union, filed a federal lawsuit soon after, alleging the ordinances are unconstitutional and violate the Martin v. Boise case law.
The temporary agreement this week sets limits on what park residents and what the city can do with the campsite. Camp residents are not allowed to use alcohol or drugs, have social visits from non-park residents in the camping area, start open fires, possess weapons or store belongings in paths or common areas. They must maintain a clean living space free of trash and debris. No new campers are allowed to join the encampment and all residents in the park must accept being placed in the camping area or else face being removed.
Violations of this code of conduct will require the city to provide notice to the resident and an opportunity for them to dispute the case, first with the city and then before a federal magistrate judge if necessary.
Prince said an “unprecedented” provision in the agreement allows camp residents to have a union representative present during any dispute.
The city must offer each camp resident a two-person tent, a personal storage area, portable bathrooms, weekly shower stations, social and health care service outreach in partnership with the county, trash collection and maintenance, and 24hour onsite security outside the camp. Novato police officers will be allowed to arrest or detain someone in the park who is alleged to have committed a crime. Certain donations to the camp will continue to be allowed.
Sarris and Prince say that some provisions in the agreement — such as requiring all residents in the camping area to wear face coverings when they are outside of their tent, mandatory 6-foot distancing between residents and banning social visits from outside visitors — will be difficult for the city to enforce.
“There’s no way they’re going to prevent people from visiting,” Prince said. “There’s no way they’re going to prevent people from exercising their rights of free association under the Constitution. If people come in and make a donation, they’re already visitors.”
The union stated it had to push back on several original proposals by the city, including mandating camp residents to accept shelter beds at Homeward Bound centers; mandating the camp residents use only city-provided tents; setting a curfew time for residents to be inside their tents; installing an 8-foot-tall fence; and prohibiting all donations.
“We don’t want to be institutionalized,” Sarris said.