Gainesville City Commission discusses changes to ordinances on public camping and pedestrians in the median

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the September 25 General Policy Committee meeting, the Gainesville City Commission discussed changes to their ordinances that prohibit public camping and restrict pedestrians from sitting or standing in certain medians.

After approving a contract to pay Andrew Persons $245,000 to serve as Interim City Manager, the Commission discussed changes to their public right-of-way ordinances. 

Public camping: law enforcement agencies are having issues with the word “overnight”

Special Projects Administrator Phil Mann said the City’s public camping ordinance is working well, for the most part, but law enforcement agencies are having issues with the word “overnight” in the ordinance because “overnight” is not defined: “So when they encounter somebody camping in either the public right-of-way, a public park, or on public property, when, exactly, is overnight? And so it has, at times, created a resource issue for GPD in which they’ve had to go back out a second time” to make sure the person has been there “overnight.”

Mann said the request was to strike the word “overnight” in two places: one is “residing overnight in temporary outdoor habitation,” and the other is “residing overnight in an outdoor space without a tent or other temporary shelter.” He said that would allow the police department to address the issue immediately when a complaint is received. Mann added, “Elsewhere in the ordinance, it does say it is unlawful for any person or entity to engage in public camping or sleeping on any public property or right-of-way.”

Staff’s recommendation was to refer this to the City Attorney to review the ordinance and bring back appropriate modifications.

Willits: “God forbid I ever fall asleep in the beautiful sun rays of a November day or March day, out on the plaza.”

Commissioner Casey Willits said, “God forbid I ever fall asleep in the beautiful sun rays of a November day or March day, out on the plaza.” He asked why they couldn’t define “overnight” instead of deleting it. He suggested a definition related to the times the various parks close. 

Ingle: “I feel like people exist, and we can’t legislate them out of existing.”

Commissioner James Ingle said, “I don’t want us to get to the point where, if one of our homeless neighbors is asleep in a park during the day, not bothering anyone or anything else, they can be harassed or arrested… I feel like people exist, and we can’t legislate them out of existing.”

Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut recommended looking at the language implemented by other municipalities. 

City Attorney Daniel Nee said the state statute allows individuals to notify the City if people are camping or sleeping overnight in a public right-of-way, and the City has to remove them within a certain amount of time or the complainant can bring a private cause of action for damages against the City. He said that when the City ordinance was written, his office decided to use the language from the statute.

Book: “I don’t think our public safety would ever be interacting with people [who take a nap for 10 minutes].”

Commissioner Ed Book read parts of the ordinance that were more specific about sleeping in public areas: “‘lodging or residing overnight in a temporary outdoor habitation used as a dwelling or living space and evidenced by the erection of a tent or other temporary shelter, the presence of bedding or pillows’… I don’t think our public safety would ever be interacting with people [who take a nap for 10 minutes]. There’s clear other indicators, and I think that we police in a way that’s very compassionate and professional.”

GPD gets “copious daytime calls” about people sleeping in public spaces

Gainesville Police Department Chief Nelson Moya said the ordinance “doesn’t necessarily speak of someone taking a nap, which we are very cognizant of, because… napping is not unlawful… What becomes an issue for us is when we are in the presence of a person in a public space with all the other things that are highlighted here — their tent,… personal belongings, sleeping material, where you’re now, in essence, lounging or camping.” He said officers routinely field these calls, and the department is looking for clear direction from the City Commission about “what to do in those moments.” He said they get “copious daytime calls, [and] we’re literally stuck. And then we have property owners that are saying, you know, get folks to move along… We fall back to, ‘Look, it speaks of overnight,’ and that’s where it gets tricky for us.” Moya said GPD is currently using 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. as “overnight.”

Willits: Removing the word “overnight” would “open it up 24/7, so that the public can have even more reason to get GPD to enforce and clear homeless people away”

Willits said that if they removed the word “overnight,” it would “open it up 24/7, so that the public can have even more reason to get GPD to enforce and clear homeless people away. So I want to make sure our argument is sound here, and it sounds like we are arguing around, rather than — we’re finding any last reason to get rid of homeless people. I’m sorry, I’m feeling emotional about this.”

Commissioner Bryan Eastman suggested leaving the ordinance as it is and looking at other cities, as Chestnut had suggested. 

Persons: Most complaints are for people “who are actually camping on the public right-of-way, like on the sidewalk or in other areas that are intended for people to move back and forth.”

Chief Operating Officer Andrew Persons said parks already have hours posted, and being in a park after hours is already against the law, but it would be useful if the Commission could differentiate between “camping versus sleeping, like in a park, for instance, during the day.” He said most of the complaints received by the City are for people “who are actually camping on the public right-of-way, like on the sidewalk or in other areas that are intended for people to move back and forth.”

Mayor Harvey Ward said he thought it would be appropriate to give direction to staff to “see what other cities have come across with this… I don’t want us to be out there on a limb with the only city trying to solve this.”

Pedestrian safety in medians

Mann said the second half of the agenda item concerned safety in medians because a majority of the 16 pedestrian fatalities from 2022 to 2024 were in a median where there was no crosswalk: “How do we improve the safety of our medians? We already have an ordinance on the books that prohibits pedestrians from being in the median if the median is six feet or less,” but GPD has found that injuries and fatalities in medians are unrelated to the width of the median, “and so, for our Vision Zero program, the recommendation is to prohibit people from being in the median unless there’s a specific purpose, such as being in a crosswalk or a sidewalk that’s in the median, or some other type of pedestrian area.”

Ward: “I don’t think it is safe for people to be in medians longer than it takes to take a respite across the road.”

Ward said his concern was “entirely about safety… I don’t think it is safe for people to be in medians longer than it takes to take a respite across the road.” He said most people who are panhandling or otherwise engaging with cars in a median are not usually in the center: “They’re going over to the edge of the median.”

Eastman said he was comfortable reviewing the median ordinance but wasn’t ready to make changes to the public camping ordinance. 

Book made a motion to refer both of the ordinances to the City Attorney and staff to review and bring back best practices. Chestnut seconded the motion. The motion passed 5-2, with Commissioners Willits and Eastman in dissent.

Duncan-Walker: “I think about the advocates for those who are unhoused and how I don’t see any of them in our chamber today, and I would love it if we would intentionally make them a part of this decision-making process.”

Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker said she would like to “bring the community into this conversation [about the public camping ordinance]… I think about the advocates for those who are unhoused and how I don’t see any of them in our chamber today, and I would love it if we would intentionally make them a part of this decision-making process… They’re going to be some of the people who we will have to rely on to make sure that, as best we can, we are going to be able to minimize the harmful impacts on our houseless neighbors.” 

Eastman made a motion to direct staff to “engage with the community to determine the impact to stakeholders and return to the Commission with that information when that comes forward.” Duncan-Walker seconded the motion, and the motion passed unanimously.