El Cajon Assistant City Manger Vince DiMaggio provided City Council an overview of the recent encampment ordinances recently adopted by the cities of San Diego and Poway to see if Council wanted to direct staff in pursuing any further action in adopting such an ordinance in El Cajon at its June 27 Council meeting.
DiMaggio said after investigating both passed ordinances, they were both similar in nature and seek to comply with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Martin v. City of Boise’s ordinance prohibiting individuals from sleeping outside on public property violated the Eight Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by “punishing an involuntary act,” the act is the “unavoidable consequence of the person’s status.” The Boise decision does not prevent cities from regulating other types of behavior such as camping, erecting encampment structures, or blocking the sidewalk.
DiMaggio said the ruling leaves undecided whether it is legal to set limits on which specific properties public camping and sleeping is prohibited.
“Due to this legal ambiguous gap, San Diego and Poway ordinances seek to drive through,” he said, adding that in both ordinances some of the language can be broadly interpreted and could be open to legal implications. His final recommendation was for the City to wait six months to a year to see if legal action is taken on either of both passed ordinances. He said the city of El Cajon is currently operating well with working on homeless camping, and homeless encampments through three previous adopted titles in its municipal code.
“Our municipal code separates it into three areas. Title 2, Title 9, and Title 12,” he said. “The reasons for this are city councils in the past have had various ordinance changes over time in response to specific instances that were a concern to Council.”
DiMaggio said Title 12 states no person shall use or occupy any part of a public sidewalk, street, or alley for any purpose other than normal pedestrian or vehicle traffic. Title 2 states that no person shall do any of the following acts within the premises of any city park or playground. One, obstruct the free travel of vehicles or pedestrians on any road, avenue, or path, and two, sleep, camp or lodge overnight, or between the hours of 10:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. Title 9 applies to the “superblock,” Civic Center, Jefferson Park and Promenade, stating it is unlawful to camp or lodge at any city ground in the superblock, later followed in the same Title to “all city property, citywide.”
“There is some prudence in waiting to see how the Poway and San Diego ordinances are actually administered since they are so recently adopted and there has been some threat of legal challenge…I believe, and I have discussed it with the city attorney, I believe what is currently in the municipal code continues to allow us to administer the programs we are administering to address sleeping and camping that is happening on sidewalks, allowing the police department and staff to enforce that. If at some time in the future these ordinances prove to be successful and not subject to legal challenge, I think it is worth revisiting and consolidating our municipal code regulations.”
