Alternate camp sites set up in Chico; residents receive enforcement notices
CHICO >> Chico’s two additional alternate camping sites appear to have been completed and people living at Chico’s alternate shelter site have received anticamping enforcement notices.
People living at the existing alternate site said Friday that city employees have delivered anti-camping enforcement and vehicle abatement notifications since Tuesday.
City Manager Mark Sorensen said in an email Friday that the enforcement process began Tuesday and he expects final enforcement and clean up to begin March 20.
Sorensen did not say how many people received a notice or shelter assessment
The existing alternate shelter site has been a target for anti-camping ordinance enforcement by the city for reasons cited in a Feb. 7 notice that included suspected harassment and vandalism to nearby businesses.
The city in its letter said it intended to enforce anticamping ordinances only to people who have not been officially referred to the alternate shelter site — about 36 of 45 people total counted in the Feb. 7 notice.
The Feb. 7 notice was sent to Legal Services of Northern California who oversees the city’s planned enforcement according to the Warren v. Chico settlement agreement.
An objection by the legal firm led a federal judge to order Chico to create two additional alternate shelter sites before the city can proceed with enforcement at the existing alternate shelter site.
The two new alternate shelter sites are located on the opposite corner of the existing one and appear to
have been completed.
The two new sites are located on city property and are bisected by two quarter-acre areas outlined by an opaque fence.
Inside, wooden stakes are placed in a grid pattern which appear to delineate areas of living space.
Sorensen said in a Feb. 23 interview that the city intended to limit living spaces at all alternate shelter sites to a 20-by-20 foot area.
The sites rest on grass. Pools of water from recent
storms were seen Friday inside both sites.
Just outside the fencing is a small gravel area with one dumpster and two portable toilets. One must cross a ditch, which was seen flooded Friday, to travel between the toilets and the alternate shelter sites.
The existing alternate shelter site is known to have flooded in the past. Some people living there were seen Friday cleaning up their tents which were knocked down by storm winds overnight.
Deborah Miles lives at the existing alternate shelter site and received two vehicle abatement notices March 7 on her car and on her trailer and was told she had 10 days to move it.
Miles said she is a Camp Fire survivor and has been living with her husband and son on the street for about four and a half years.
Miles said she was parked at the Chico Lowe’s one day and was told by police to park at the alternate shelter site where she has been recently living.
Now Miles is facing vehicle abatement and said she was told to trade in her trailer and car in order to have a spot at the Torres Community Shelter. Miles said the trailer was considered by the city to be a shelter.
“They told me if I went to the Torres Shelter that I would have to turn over my RV. I’m sorry, I paid good money for this, and that’s not happening,” Miles said.
Miles said she is now concerned about finding a place to park her vehicle and trailer.