At the Feb. 28 Redmond city council meeting, staff and councilors are set to debate rules around when, where and how people without permanent housing can live within city limits.

Currently, the city has no camping regulations for people without permanent homes. It has until a state-mandated deadline of July 1 to craft rules.

At its Feb. 14 council meeting, Redmond city staff proposed banning camping in buildings or structures on developed portions of public park areas, city hall property, public parking lots and on sidewalks when they reduce its width to less than five feet.

Staff and councilors also discussed banning camping from Redmond’s major commercial zones, including from Fred Meyer north to Kingwood Ave., and the major east/west arterial along Glacier and Highland. They also hope to ban camping along Highway 97 through town.

Additionally, staff proposed banning camping within 500 feet of utility facilities, safe parking program sites and any schools, childcare facilities or permitted homeless shelters.

“These provide some guidance to enable us to take action if it’s warranted,” said John Roberts, deputy city manager for Redmond.

But, these proposals are not definite. City council is expected to debate details Feb. 28 and could continue to discuss at later meetings.

According to city attorney Keith Leitz, staff have been working on the regulations for nearly a year — and nothing is yet set in stone.

“500 feet is not a magic answer that’s come down from above,” said Redmond Mayor Ed Fitch. “It is an estimate on what might be appropriate. It’s not the final answer.”

According to Fitch, the city needs to have regulations in place so those experiencing homelessness and local community members have a clear set of rules.

Fitch said the city has a legal and fiduciary duty to implement regulations that balance the needs of the community and the rights of people who don’t have a place to rest and sleep.

“It’s not an easy fix,” Fitch said.

Services and businesses

Service providers also recognized that it’s not easy to create rules and regulations, but acknowledged that they’re necessary — as long as officials don’t get carried away.

“They really packaged a lot of stuff together,” said Rick Russell, pastor of Mountain View Fellowship Church and director of the Redmond Safe Parking Program.

There are some rules that benefit the safe parking program. The code amendments would not only create a no-camping zone within 500 feet of existing safe parking sites, it would open more areas for hosting.

“We think we have one business coming online specifically because of these changes,” Russell said. “It’s been a reassurance to some of the other potential host sites that we’re talking with.”

Branegan Dixon, owner of the Redmond Athletic Club and a former city council candidate, is one such interested party and has started filling out paperwork to open a site for the safe parking program.

Dixon said the athletic club has had some membership cancellations and complaints from customers, due to people living out of five or six RVs and multiple cars parked near his business.

“There are definitely some impacts,” he said.

The safe parking rules that would prohibit camping within 500 feet of a site, he said, would allow him to help people experiencing homelessness who want to get their lives together while also preventing others from camping at his business.

An attempt to address camping

According to Roberts, the genesis for the new rules stem from the Martin v. Boise court case out of Idaho. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that cities cannot criminalize camping or sleeping outdoors on public property if there are no alternatives.

The Oregon legislature passed a bill in 2021 that city or county laws regarding “sitting, lying, sleeping or keeping warm and dry outdoors” on public property must be objectively reasonable.

Russell said it’s always easy to say where homelessness people cannot be. The hard part is allowing space where it can occur. But, he applauded the city’s effort to create these rules.

“I think the concern for me is, will they exclude so many places that essentially they’ve outlawed being unhoused?” Russell said. “I don’t think they’re doing that.”

He noted that many communities may try to do this. For instance, prohibiting camping within 5,000 feet of a school, daycare or utility facility in Redmond would effectively ban camping in the city.

According to Andrew Hoeksema, Redmond director for Shepherd’s House Ministries and chair of the city housing and community development committee, fair rules and regulations are a positive.

“I think those distance restrictions are helpful,” he said. “Those codes exist to prevent conflict.”

Hoeksema doesn’t expect the rules to change the Shepherd’s House mission as they build the city’s first year-round, low-barrier shelter and provide a better alternative to camping.

Many of the people who visit Shepherd’s House, he said, do so to avoid camping.

But, Hoeksema noted that many people experiencing homelessness don’t stop living outdoors when officials close or dismantle their camps. Instead, they just move somewhere else.