Kelso City Council unanimously passed changes Tuesday to its unlawful camping rules, which take effect five days later.
The ordinance bans residing or sleeping in any park, street, parking lot, or other public property, whether in a tent, sleeping bag, vehicle, or even without any temporary shelter.
City code already banned people from camping in vehicles from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., while the changes eliminate the same time requirement for people camping outside of vehicles.
Now, camping in public areas will be banned at all times, besides the vehicle restrictions.
People also don’t need “camp paraphernalia,” like sleeping bags, anymore to be considered camping, ordinance changes show.
Why now?
Kelso Police Chief Richard Fletcher brought the changes to the council on July 15 to maintain “a clean and healthy city,” he said at the meeting.
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The ordinance passed unanimously on first reading at that meeting with no discussion, though two councilmembers were absent: Mike Karnofski and Brian Wood.
At Tuesday’s meeting, all councilmembers were present, and it passed unanimously again, said Councilmember Keenan Harvey.
Fletcher said at the July 15 meeting that he drafted the ordinance because the city can now have more control over issues around camping and personal storage in public places in light of the June 2024 Supreme Court decision of Grants Pass, Oregon vs. Johnson.
The Supreme Court decision last year overturned a 2019 U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in the case of Boise vs. Martin that restricted anticamping ordinances in nine western states including Washington, Oregon and California.
Cities across Washington — including Longview, Battle Ground and Aberdeen — have made more restrictive changes to local camping ordinances since the ruling.
Longview, like Kelso, already banned camping in vehicles from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and has not made any changes to camping in vehicle rules since passing its “zero-tolerance” resolution in June.
Whe
re are Kelso campers?
Harvey said during a recent ride along with Kelso police, officers used a drone to look for people camping on the banks of the Cowlitz River — a known location for camping — but no one was there that day.
In Longview, councilmembers have mentioned that large groups have camped at R.A. Long Memorial Park, particularly under the gazebo, but neither Harvey nor Kelso Mayor Veryl Anderson could name an equivalent hotspot in Kelso.
Anderson said the ordinance is a proactive approach.
Harvey said the changes help create continuity of unlawful camping ordinances throughout the state.
“It’s important that we are all on the same page on how to handle a difficult situation,” he said.
