{"id":92965,"date":"2019-07-16T11:03:09","date_gmt":"2019-07-16T11:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/la-plata-county-officials-pitch-new-location-for-possible-homeless-camp\/"},"modified":"2019-07-16T11:03:09","modified_gmt":"2019-07-16T11:03:09","slug":"la-plata-county-officials-pitch-new-location-for-possible-homeless-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/la-plata-county-officials-pitch-new-location-for-possible-homeless-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"La Plata County officials pitch new location for possible homeless camp"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"About
About an acre of open space south of Purple Cliffs near La Posta Road has been identified as a potential location for the homeless to legally sleep. Durango City Council is scheduled to discuss the idea Tuesday.<\/span>Bret Hauff\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

La Plata County officials have identified a place for the homeless to legally sleep. The only problem: It happens to be on city property, and Durango city officials have so far been reluctant to give the go-ahead.<\/p>\n

About an acre of slightly-graded open space near the northern end of La Posta Road and the Purple Cliffs \u2013 which was county property until about 10 years ago \u2013 has been used in the past by homeless campers, said county Commissioner Gwen Lachelt.<\/p>\n

County officials thought the property may be a suitable location for the Sheriff\u2019s Office to direct campers, especially when they are occupying lands where camping is not allowed, she said.<\/p>\n

But upon further research, county officials found the city annexed the property, Lachelt said. So, at a scheduled meeting between county commissioners and city councilors last week, county officials proposed the spot as a location where law enforcement could direct homeless residents to sleep.<\/p>\n

A federal circuit court opinion late last year found it unconstitutional to criminalize sleeping on public property when there is no other place for someone to rest.<\/p>\n

In response, City Council adopted an ordinance in March to prohibit \u201ccamping\u201d on any city-owned or city-managed property but allows \u201csheltering\u201d in an area designated by the city manager.<\/p>\n

City code defines \u201ccamping\u201d as \u201ctemporary use or occupancy of a location for the purposes of a living accommodation.\u201d It defines \u201csheltering\u201d as \u201ctemporary overnight sleeping arrangements on a designated parcel of property for a period not to exceed the time between one hour before sunset \u2026 and one hour after sunrise of the next day, with or without the use of cover or other protection from the elements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where can they go?<\/div>\n

City officials have not, at least publicly, identified a location for homeless residents to sleep since March 15, when its camping\/sheltering ordinance went into effect.<\/p>\n

City Councilor Chris Bettin said Saturday that he responded to county commissioners last week on behalf of the council, telling them the City Council, with two new members elected in April, has not had substantial discussions about a site for the homeless to sleep.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because we\u2019re having a conversation about a site doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re actually contemplating a site,\u201d Bettin said.<\/p>\n

Barbara Noseworthy, who joined City Council this spring, said there will never be a perfect location for people to sleep on public property, but the commissioners\u2019 proposal is a good opportunity to collaborate with county leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to accept the fact that people are going to camp or shelter,\u201d Noseworthy said. \u201cI reminded folks that while (the camping\/sheltering ordinance) has told everyone where they cannot camp, it doesn\u2019t show them where they can.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council is scheduled to discuss the issue at a special study session at 4 p.m. Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u2018A very foundational step\u2019<\/div>\n

The joint meeting between councilors and commissioners is the first time in almost a year that officials publicly floated a potential location for the homeless to sleep, Bettin said.<\/p>\n

La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith has asked county commissioners where his deputies should send the homeless after kicking them out of illegal camping spots. That is what led to discussion of the Purple Cliffs property as a possible location, Lachelt said.<\/p>\n

\"La
La Plata County officials have identified a location near the Purple Cliffs south of downtown Durango as a possible camping site for homeless residents. The site is across the Animas River from a single-family home neighborhood behind Home Depot and just south of Escalante Middle School.<\/span>Bret Hauff\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A homeless community living near the Durango Tech Center has worried city and county officials for years. It is a densely wooded, often steep-graded location prone to fire danger. It also affects nearby neighbors, and its remoteness has pulled law enforcement off the streets and into the rugged terrain to manage the population.<\/p>\n

Camping near the Tech Center is illegal, but law enforcement so far has not been issuing citations to people sleeping where they shouldn\u2019t. Instead, police and sheriff\u2019s deputies have issued written and verbal warnings for campers to move.<\/p>\n

Bettin said it is his understanding the number of homeless campers near the Tech Center has declined in recent months to a low of 11 campsites.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel that what\u2019s happening in the community is that much of the camping is dispersed,\u201d he said. Parks and Recreation crews have removed trash, which they suspect is a product of the homeless, from open spaces all over the city.<\/p>\n

The Durango-La Plata County Planning and Action Team on Homelessness \u2013 which includes representatives from the city, county, law enforcement, nonprofits, health care providers, concerned neighborhoods and housing nonprofits \u2013 released draft goals for addressing homelessness<\/a> earlier this month.<\/p>\n

The city and the county paid The Athena Group, an Olympia, Washington-based company, $70,000 to help local officials make informed decisions about how to manage the homeless population. So far, only draft goals have been released, and the draft is considered \u201ca very foundational step,\u201d said Meagan Picard with The Athena Group.<\/p>\n

Durango Mayor Melissa Youssef said the goals are a good start, but she\u2019s more interested in the forthcoming short-term, medium-range and long-term steps expected to be part of the new strategic plan on homelessness.<\/p>\n

Coming to a head<\/div>\n

Homelessness is not a new phenomenon in Durango or La Plata County. Homeless residents tend to camp in wooded areas near or in city limits. Others sleep in cars, and some have sought shelter at the La Plata County Fairgrounds or the Durango post office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But national recognition of a constitutional right to sleep in public spaces when someone has nowhere else to go forced Durango, La Plata County and municipalities all over the country to change how they address homelessness<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A 9th Judicial Circuit Court opinion in September validated a U.S. Justice Department statement<\/a> in 2015 saying that \u201cmaking it a crime for people who are homeless to sleep in public places, when there is insufficient shelter space in a city, unconstitutionally punishes them for being homeless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Homeless residents were moved to about four different campsites last year. Eventually, the last camp was closed and the city of Durango abandoned plans to start a new camp near the Durango dog park<\/a>. The decisions left the homeless without a place to legally sleep outside<\/a>. It\u2019s been that way ever since.<\/p>\n

bhauff@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Property near Purple Cliffs could serve as shelter site<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":92966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6039,5805,5740,5931,5871,5916,5736,5735],"tags":[1020,507,13,611,1512,1901],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-92965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-durango-city-council","category-durango-city-officials","category-frontpage-lead","category-homelessness","category-la-plata-county-government","category-la-plata-county-sheriff","category-local-news","category-news","tag-durango-city-council","tag-durango-city-officials","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-homelessness","tag-la-plata-county-government","tag-la-plata-county-sheriff"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92965"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=92965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}