Marin sheriff’s office wants city’s vehicle camp cleared
Parking ban urged amid rise in RVs, cars, trailers on road
The Marin County Sheriff’s Office is proposing to ban overnight parking on a tucked-away Novato road in response to what it says is a growing number of vehicle campers.
“We went from a dozen vehicles parked along the road to dozens of vehicles,” said sheriff’s Sgt. Bill Hernandez.
The sheriff’s office has asked the Board of Supervisors to approve an ordinance to ban overnight parking on Binford Road, which runs along Highway 101 between Atherton Avenue and the Marin County Airport at Gnoss Field.
The road has been home to several RVs, cars, boats and trailers in the past, but has increased to as many as 50 at times in recent months, Hernandez said. About 20 vehicles were parked along the road as of Friday morning.
While Hernandez said sheriff’s deputies are not enforcing the 72-hour parking limit on the road in light of the coronavirus pandemic, he said that issues of garbage, dumping and human waste have been on the rise in recent months, as have complaints.
The people living along the road, however, say the waste issues are being exaggerated and say sheriff’s deputies are ramping up ticketing in an effort to drive them out.
While Hernandez said a fire on Sept. 28 near Gnoss Field was associated with some of the campers, Novato fire Chief Bill Tyler said the fire was started accidentally by someone not associated with the vehicle encampment.
“This was a single male that was by himself who had found a spot that he felt he could get out of the elements,” Tyler said. “It’s unrelated to the trailers and the encampment of people that are trying to find a place to survive.”
The sheriff’s office has begun to ramp up enforcement of vehi
cle codes such as registration in recent months to try to discourage campers from staying there.
“If we get an ordinance, that will take care of the vast majority of the problem, but we’re not there yet,” Hernandez said.
It’s unclear if the board will consider such a ban. County Administrator Matthew Hymel said a parking ban ordinance is not being planned for at this time.
“However, county departments including the Sheriff’s Office are monitoring and enforcing existing ordinances,” Hymel wrote in an email on Friday.
Supervisor Judy Arnold, whose district includes Binford Road, said the ideal situation would be to find another location for the residents to stay amid the pandemic, which would reduce the environmental damage on Binford Road.
“We’re working hard and we are going to come up with something right away,” Arnold said Friday.
Some residents living on Binford Road have a different view from the sheriff’s office.
David Guimont said he has lived in his trailer on Binford for the past four months after losing his Novato home through poor spending decisions.
Guimont said he has endured regular harassment by people driving down Binford Road, including objects thrown at his trailer and vehicle spinouts to envelope his trailer in a cloud of rubbery smoke. Two men threatened his girlfriend and threatened to kill their dogs if they didn’t leave, Guimont said. He did not report the incident to law enforcement.
Now, Guimont said, the sheriff’s office’s enhanced enforcement is exacerbating the financial difficulties of him and his neighbors. His motorcycle was impounded, and Guimont said it cost about $500 in fines and fees. Before the interview, Guimont said the sheriff’s office came and had his elderly neighbor’s vehicle towed.
While Guimont said he does have a criminal record, he is trying to turn his circumstances around but doesn’t know where else to go.
“We’re out of the way right now,” Guimont said Friday. “How hard is it to have to drive past this to go to your plane or going over to their storage units? We keep it clean, we’re out of the way as far as Novato goes. I don’t know how much further you’re going to snuff us out. A lot of us like me need to get things together.”
Paul Schraps said he has been living in an RV on Binford for about sixmonths by choice so that he can afford to work on a documentary series.
“Just because you’re in an RV doesn’t mean you’re homeless,” Schraps said.
Schraps, founder of the Parent Teen Bridges nonprofit to help parents with child drug issues, said he was informed by law enforcement officers that an overnight parking ban might be forthcoming. He said he has no problem moving on.
“I don’t feel that we are entitled to have this here,” Schraps said. “I feel that it is a really convenient thing considering COVID-19 and other things. I look at it as a blessing.”
Residents have worked to keep their areas clean, Schraps said, and one of his neighbors volunteered to trim away vegetation along the fence to address fire risk. Schraps said he has nothing but appreciation for the work the sheriff’s office and county officials have done for the Binford Road residents.
Members of the Tam Equity Campaign activist group such as Jason Sarris, a homeless resident of Novato, are urging the county and local governments to set up sanctioned areas with amenities where the homeless can stay.
“I think themoney would be much better spent if we get a safe haven for people to be able to try to get their life going again instead of being moved along,” Sarris said.
Ashley Hart McIntyre, a county homeless policy analyst, said the Binford Road encampments require a balance of addressing social serviceneeds aswell as environmental concerns. Workers have gone out to Binford Road at least weekly to connect residents to services and encourage them to find other housing. McIntyre said it’s unclear if any those residents have recently been connected to housing.
The county set up a portable bathroom and wash station, as it has at other encampments amid the pandemic. Groups such as the Downtown Streets Team nonprofit organization regularly come by Binford Road to pick up garbage along the road, McIntyre said.
The coronavirus pandemic has complicated homelessness outreach efforts in general, McIntyre said, as some services such as congregation areas are no longer options.
“We’ve really ramped up our outreach but on the other hand some of those other things aren’t available,” McIntyre said.
An overnight parking ban on Binford Road could also just push the encampment to a new location as it has in the past. When overnight parking restrictions were implemented at a former RV encampment in unincorporated San Rafael near Woodland Avenue and Auburn Street in 2017, many of the RVs ended up moving to Binford Road.
“Unless it comes with an offer for housing it just pushes the problem somewhere else,” McIntyre said.
Hernandez said it’s definitely possible that the RV and camper owners might end up relocating to another city or county, but he said the problems on Binford Road are out of hand.
“That’s a complicated problem by society,” he said.