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Sep. 6—The Brunswick City Commission will on Wednesday consider cracking down on people sleeping in public spaces.
The city’s current code includes a section under “Offences and Miscellaneous Provisions” that reads: “It shall be unlawful for any person to camp anywhere in the city except at such places as may be designated by the commission for that purpose.”
It does not define the term “camping” in this context.
The proposed anti-urban camping code is broken out into its own section titled “Urban Camping and Improper Use of Public Spaces.”
In it, camping is defined as “occupying or using a public park, public area, square or parking area…for living accommodation purposes such as sleeping activities or making preparations to sleep…or storing personal property or storing other belongings, making a fire, carrying on cooking activities or using a tent or other structure for habitation.
“These activities constitute camping if, in light of all the circumstances, it reasonably appears that in conducting one or more of these activities, the person is in fact using the area as a living accommodation, regardless of the intent of the person or the nature of any other activities in which the person may also be engaging.”
The proposed code revision requires one verbal warning before making an arrest on charges of camping and prevents private landowners from allowing camping on their property unless the land is properly zoned. It also outlaws camping in private areas that would block access to buildings, driveways, streets, sidewalks, alleys or other areas with limited entrances.
Exceptions include activities approved by the city commission and medical emergencies.
The Brunswick Police Department or city Code Enforcement officers can, without notice, confiscate any equipment used in camping.
Other items on the agenda include:
—Consideration of in-kind support for a tree-planting project in the city.
—Spending $34,530 on a project to fix trip hazards on sidewalks on Altama Avenue from R Street to the Ga. 25 Spur, on Parkwood Drive from Altama Avenue to U.S. 17, on U.S. 341 from G Street to 7th Street and on Reynolds Street from I Street to 1st Street.
—Purchasing a flood-prone lot as part of a Federal Emergency Management Agency program. The city would be limited in how it used the property, but it would take it off the market and avoid future homeowners suffering flood damage there.
The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Old City Hall, 1229 Newcastle St. in Brunswick. The meeting will be broadcast online at facebook.com/citybwkga.
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