District bylaw staff will “primarily focus” on the Red and Blue areas in town to enforce the new camping bylaw. This enforcement will be based on complaints.
At the Special Business meeting on May 3, council voted to approve a camping bylaw that allows homeless in locals parks and prohibits people from sleeping in vehicles on district roads.
Mayor Karen Elliott, and Councillors Doug Race, Armand Hurford, Eric Andersen, and John French voted in support of the bylaw. Councillors Jenna Stoner and Chris Pettingill opposed the bylaw.
In the same meeting, council passed a motion asking staff to bring back a report on how bylaw officials would enforce the camping bylaw.
According to this report which will be presented to council on May 18, the enforcement of the bylaw will be based on complaints.
The complaint process will be guided by the Bylaw Enforcement Complaint policy, which was approved by council in 2017.
This policy sets guidelines that allow bylaw officers to differentiate between a valid complaint, a frivolous complaint, and a vexatious complaint.
However, bylaw officers don’t have to rely on just complaints, and can enforce the camping bylaw based on “behaviour, congregation, and unsightliness”.
According to the report, bylaw staff can proactively apply the bylaw if the officer observes people sleeping or staying in their vehicles, sees illegal camping, or observes litter, debris or human waste around vehicles.
Officers will be seeking voluntary compliance, and nighttime patrols will focus on seasonal problem areas and complaint areas, the report says.
However, compliance or enforcement based on education and warnings is not appropriate in all circumstances, the report adds.
“More direct enforcement approaches, including immediate ticketing, may occur in certain situations where, for example, a danger or unsafe circumstance might apply or repeat offences are occurring,” the report says.
