Bristol, Virginia considers outlawing camping on city-owned property

BRISTOL, Va. (WJHL) — People experiencing homelessness were on the minds of City Council members as they discussed a change to the public camping section of the city code in a called meeting Tuesday.

Current city code states it is illegal to camp on sidewalks and right of ways. The code details what qualifies as camping and what does not. The current punishment is a class four misdemeanor, the least serious in the state, with a fine of $250.

The proposed change is to make camping illegal on city-owned property, with a class one misdemeanor, the most severe in the state, with a fine of $2,500 and up to a year in jail.

The proposed changes are in red in this document:

This proposed change comes after a Supreme Court decision in June, ruling municipalities have the right to decide the legality of camping on public property.

City officials have a public health issue on their hands. Even after passing ordinances outlawing public urination and defecation last year, it’s still an issue and was mentioned as an issue in Cumberland Park. City manager and attorney Randy Eads said there have been reports of syringes found in the park as well.

“It’s creating a hardship on our public works staff in order to keep things clean and usable for other residents of the city,” Eads said.

Council member Neal Osborne was the second to speak up in the discussion of the amendments, asking how a scenario would play out in Cumberland Park, a site frequented by the unhoused.

“We’ve arrested someone who wouldn’t have the money to pay the fines,” Osborne said. “Obviously, they don’t have the money to live somewhere else. And then, we’re paying as taxpayers for them to be in Southwest Jail.”

Osborne said the people who would be affected by this proposed change aren’t those who choose “to camp in Cumberland Park because they think it would be a good time. They’re doing it for necessity.” He said this isn’t the solution to the problem, but rather pushing the problem elsewhere.

“They don’t have anywhere else to go,” Osborne said. “I would feel better about this if in tandem we were having more serious discussions about avenues to help people.”

He made a suggestion of designating a city-owned property as a place for the unhoused to go. Members discussed how this option still leaves another piece of property that needs to be maintained.

Members discussed that the punishment is up to the discretion of the officer. Vice-mayor Jake Holmes said more options for law enforcement would be helpful. He spoke of going on a ride-along recently and how the officers knew some of the people experiencing homelessness.

Council members know officers feel like their hands are tied in this issue, saying there aren’t any laws or ordinances to combat the issue.

“I think this is just another tool in our officer’s tool belt that can help,” Holmes said.

Among discussions of what the best short-term solution would be, Mayor Becky Nave wants to continue working with local and federal lawmakers to find a solution.

“To identify funding to help with the mental health and substance abuse issues that we have because that is what we’re dealing with on a lot of it,” Nave said.

Two council members withdrew their motions on the ordinance, stopping it from moving to second reading. Members agreed to work on making changes to the ordinance, including the penalty for the offense.

Nave said changes would be made and the ordinance would be looked at again at a later date. Osborne believes this later date will be in two to four weeks.

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