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Novato officials and an organization representing homeless residents have announced a settlement in a federal lawsuit challenging the city’s anti-camping rules.
The agreement between the city and the California Homeless Union requires the city to keep its sanctioned camp at Lee Gerner Park open for at least two more years, but it would allow the city to continue enforcing its camping regulations with slight modifications.
The city also agreed to form a committee of up to seven members focused on housing and homelessness to oversee the camp and housing opportunities. At least two seats on the committee will be reserved for members of the union.
The settlement, announced by the City Council on Tuesday night, comes more than two years after a group of homeless residents set up the camp, which they called “Camp Compassion,” as the pandemic was spreading.
Jason Sarris, a former resident of the park who has recently found housing in San Rafael, called the agreement “groundbreaking” and an opportunity for more homeless residents to be connected to services.
“To have the camp extended for two years to provide people with safety and security, and to have an open door to the homeless when spaces open up, is great. This camp is working,” Sarris said Wednesday.
City Councilwoman Pat Eklund said she supported the agreement, stating it allows the city to enforce its camping rules while also continuing efforts to provide services to homeless residents.
“It allows us to jointly manage the existing campsite at Lee Gerner, which has really been a win-win,” Eklund said Wednesday, “because it has allowed those who are homeless to be in a safe location, a location that does not disrupt the adjacent tenants or property owners nor the community, and a safe place to stay while they seek housing.”
Not all residents support the agreement. Novato resident Melanie Swanson, who has been critical of the city’s enforcement of the Lee Gerner Park camp and other homeless camps in the city, described the settlement as “outrageous.”
“Concerned citizens of Novato have literally banged the drum to get the attention of the City Council over the past several years, demonstrating against the arbitrary use of Lee Gerner Park for a homeless encampment,” Swanson wrote in an email. “For the council to make this agreement without any input from Novato residents is the most un-Democratic action taken in years.”
The settlement is set to go back to the U.S. District Court of Northern California for final approval.
Campers represented by the California Homeless Union sued the city last year after the City Council adopted its camping rules in response to concerns by residents and nearby business owners about the Lee Gerner Park camp. The rules limited camping to areas within 50 feet of facilities deemed “critical infrastructure,” including schools, government buildings, libraries, playgrounds, utility equipment, evacuation routes and other areas.
Similar restrictions were applied to creeks and streams such as Novato Creek, which runs through the park and which critics say has been polluted by the camp. Violators faced being charged with a misdemeanor.
The California Homeless Union said the rules violated a 2018 ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the Martin v. Boise case. That decision prohibits agencies from restricting people from sleeping on public lands if no adequate shelter space is available for them. Such bans essentially make it unlawful for a person to sleep anywhere and thus constitute cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Constitution, the court found.
In particular, the union stated, the city’s definition of critical infrastructure was too broad and would essentially create a camping ban on all public areas of the city. In July 2021, a federal judge required the city to halt enforcement of the ordinance until the case was resolved.
The union’s lead counsel, Anthony Prince, said he does not have problems with camping restrictions so long as they are reasonable. The settlement will require the city to remove a list of examples of critical infrastructure from the ordinance.
“We’re glad the city of Novato saw its way to reach what we think is a very favorable settlement,” Prince said on Wednesday.
The required change to the regulations is more semantic and does not actually alter the city’s definition of what constitutes critical infrastructure, which was approved as part of a separate resolution not affected by the settlement, said City Manager Adam McGill.
“Really nothing changes,” McGill said.
The council is set to review the changes at its Aug. 23 meeting, McGill said.
Last year, the city agreed to set up a temporary sanctioned camp at Lee Gerner Park that included fencing, tents, bathrooms, security and other services until the case was resolved. The settlement will require the camp to remain in place for at least two more years and possibly longer if the new homelessness committee deems it needed.
The agreement also requires the city to admit new residents of the camp, with a maximum of 18 occupants, which was not required in the previous agreement.
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