Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
City works on plan to clean up along trails
3-part approach aims to deal with trash from campsites
FAYETTEVILLE — The city administration has a plan to deal with trash associated with unsanctioned camps along trails, while a nonprofit group has a longterm plan to get people out of tents and into homes.
The city in recent weeks has received more complaints than usual about trash along and near Town Branch Trail. The trail runs about 2 miles in length mostly south of 15th Street from about Hollywood Avenue east to near Walker Park. The eastern portion of the trail from Greathouse Park doubles as the Razorback Greenway.
A THREE-PRONGED APPROACH
The city’s plan has three main components, said Susan Norton, chief of staff to Mayor Lioneld Jordan.
The City Council approved the first March 21. It added $150,000 to the yearly contract with Titan Lawn and Landscape to have workers with the company pick up trash and debris along the trail system in the southern part of town. The company is the hired contractor to do lawnmowing services for city parks and public right of way areas. The amended contract brings the total the city will pay the company for a year to $241,310.
The second part of the plan will enable city employees or contracted workers to enter private property to clean trash. The City Attorney’s Office came up with a consent form property owners can sign. The form says the city or its contractors can enter a property with any necessary equipment to remove and dispose of trash and debris. Workers also can remove vegetation or small trees to clear a path to enter the property. After removal of the trash, the workers will restore the property to its original condition, except for replacing trees. The agreement remains in effect until the property owner rescinds it in writing.
The form also enables police to enter a property to warn, remove or arrest, if necessary, any person who doesn’t have written permission to be on a property and who refuses to leave.
That leads into the third part, which is establishment of a standard operating procedure for police to handle trespassing campers on
public or private property. Officers will give campers 48 hours to collect belongings and leave a property. After 48 hours, officers will check the site again to ensure the campers have left. If not, they may receive a citation for criminal trespass or, in rare instances, be arrested. City and University of Arkansas police will coordinate efforts because the university owns land near the trails in south Fayetteville.
Norton said up until this point, private property owners were responsible for cleaning trash left by unwanted campers. Additionally, camping overnight isn’t allowed on city property, she said.
Cleaning trash is more than just an effort to improve aesthetic appeal along trails, Norton said. Left unchecked, trash can become an environmental and safety hazard, especially along streams such as Town Branch, she said.
“All parties involved now have the steps in place in order to get the properties cleaned up,” Norton said.
Residents also can report instances of trash along trails on the city’s app, SeeClickFix.
Norton said the city hopes residents will notice a marked difference within a few weeks.
UNDERLYING ISSUES
While the city deals with the trash issue, as a separate effort, 7 Hills Homeless Center is developing plans with partner organizations to move unsheltered residents into housing.
Oftentimes people who are asked to leave campsites get referred to the agency, said Mike Williams, 7 Hills chief executive officer. The average wait time to find people some kind of housing is six months, he said, but some may wait up to two to three years.
The goal of the plan is to make the average wait time 30 days by 2027, Williams said.
“We’re still working on defining exactly what that looks like and where it’s going to happen,” he said. “It’s definitely going to involve us looking at expanding our programming, expanding our facilities and expanding housing options. Those are all things we’re looking into right now.”
For instance, 7 Hills could expand its Walker Family Residential Community south of Huntsville Road, Williams said. Collaboration with partner organizations such as Community Clinic and Legal Aid of Arkansas will serve as a key part of the plan to provide more services to residents, he said.
Proliferation of trash at campsites can be related to a lack of access to mental health services, Williams said. People who don’t suffer from mental illness typically try to leave no trace behind, he said.
“When you’re experiencing mental illness and homelessness, the environment’s not top of mind because you’re just trying to survive the day,” Williams said. “I don’t think the trash issue is an intentional choice by anyone. I think it’s more of a symptom of the mental illness that we see a large part of our homeless population experiencing.”
The change to the lawnmowing contract and private property consent form will enable more workers to cover a larger area, said Byron Humphry, parks maintenance superintendent. Previously, parks maintenance staff and contractors were limited to working only on city property. Trail users may have seen trash or camps and reported it to the city, but the city’s hands would be tied because they couldn’t enter private property, he said.
City crews in the past have picked up all kinds of trash, Humphry said. Items are usually waterlogged and unsanitary, and can include everything from clothes to hazardous waste. The contracted crews will have access to heavier equipment to be able to get to wooded areas and handle material in a safe manner, he said.
It seems the number of camps, and with them, the amount of trash, has increased in the last few years, Humphry said.
“It’s not as noticeable until the leaves are off,” he said. “Then the weather gets warm and people get back outside, and all of a sudden it’s evident it has increased all year long and now you can see it all.”
Last year, the regional Continuum of Care counted 343 people experiencing homelessness in Northwest Arkansas. That’s an increase from the 157 counted in 2021. However, only people staying in shelters were counted that year because of health and safety restrictions associated with the pandemic. In January 2020, the continuum counted 369 people experiencing homelessness.
POLICE RESPONSE
Police recognize homelessness is a difficult problem to solve and try to take a compassionate approach when going to unsanctioned campsites, Fayetteville Deputy Chief Jamie Fields said. Last week, the department began sending out a regular trail patrol. Historically, the department has used school resource officers to patrol trails in the summer.
The standard operating procedure will provide consistency in the police response to unsanctioned camping and trash, Fields said. Most of the time people clear out when asked, she said.
Arrests for criminal trespassing associated with unsanctioned camping are rare, Fields said. Since 2014, the department has issued 42 citations for criminal trespassing to campers, given 14 warnings and made eight arrests, she said.
The city’s Police Department stays in communication with university police. Although camping isn’t explicitly prohibited on university property, use of the university’s property is restricted to educational and research purposes, said Capt. Gary Crain with university police.
“You might not have a sign up at your house that says, ‘You can’t camp here,’ but everyone understands that you can’t camp there,” he said.
The City Council also included in this year’s budget $ 100,000 for the Pick Me Up program. The program pays unsheltered residents to pick up litter along trails and campsites in partnership with Genesis Church. A pilot program was launched last year.
The city’s approach to trash associated with camps has historically been a reactive one, Norton said. The city would only take care of its own property along trails. Now the plan is to take care of all the properties within sight of trails, she said.