Public safety chiefs provide council update on hazard mitigation

Public safety chiefs presented the latest updates, at a council meeting earlier this week, on a coordinated effort to clean up homeless encampments in Marysville.

Spurred on by the Hollywood Trailer Park Fire last October, the fire department, police, public works and service groups have worked on cleaning up different areas within the city where encampments had taken hold. The sites include the Hollywood Trailer Park area, the First Street and Biz Johnson Drive area, the Thorntree area and the Sand Plant area.

All but the Sand Plant area have been cleared and that should be completed by May, according to Police Chief Chris Sachs.

The police department recently hired an officer to conduct code enforcement duties in the city and enforce a camping ordinance. Campers in a location are given seven days notice to leave the area. A couple days later code enforcement goes out to the same location with members of the Homeless Engagement and Resolution Team (HEART) and other social workers to provide services and outreach. Five days after initial notice, code enforcement provides a 48-hour notice and on the seventh day campers must leave.

Since starting the cleanup efforts, 34 of the approximately 110 individuals living on the different sites obtained services, according to Sachs.

“So it’s working,” Sachs told the council. “It’s better than what we had a few years ago.”

During the cleanup, 213 vehicles were removed from the sites. That includes motorhomes, trailers, trucks, cars, fourwheelers, motorcycles and boats. At Hollywood, where the fire created the catalyst to go forward with cleanup efforts, there were 35 encampments that were removed. At First Street and

Biz Johnson 13 encampments were removed. Thorntree had 17 encampments and Sand Plant had 45.

The only other area with a significant encampment that will be cleared is from the confluence of the Yuba and Feather rivers to the Fifth Street Bridge where 15 encampments are located, according to Sachs.

HEART, the Sutter-yuba Homeless Consortium, Hands of Hope, 14Forward and the Adventist Health Street Nursing Team have contributed to provide resources and shelter to people cleared out of the different locations.

After the fire in October, the city approved $140,000 in cleanup funding. Marysville

Fire Chief Ron Karlen said approximately $85,000 has been spent to date – mostly on vegetation removal and blocking access to the different locations being cleaned up. A Yuba Water Agency grant of $75,000 will help cover some of the costs of the cleanup.

The department has been doing vegetation work in all the locations where camps were cleared along with the Marysville Historic Cemetery. The impact of the cleanup efforts has already been seen. In 2020, the fire department responded to 99 calls for service in the Hollywood area. So far in 2021, there have been no calls for service, according to Karlen.

“Creating a peaceful environment where the citizens of Marysville who are not presenting a homeless or vagrancy problem to the city can actually go down to the rivers and enjoy them … I presume that is the endpoint we all have in mind,” Mayor Chris Branscum said following the presentation.

In other business: the council approved awarding a contract of $500,421 with All American Construction for the Marysville Bike and Pedestrian Improvements project.

The estimated $583,000 project will install 26 bike racks on public sidewalks, add 7.23 miles of bike lanes, 5.74 miles of bike routes, four high visibility crosswalks, two rectangular rapid flash beacons, two speed feedback signs, a raised intersection and 1,193 feet of sidewalk. The project area includes First Street from

F to D Street; D Street and 12th Street; and D Street from First to Fifth Street.

Marysville is contributing $68,000 in budgeted general fund dollars to the project.