A group of homeless campers in San Rafael was moved to a new site Tuesday because of the fire risk at their camp on Francisco Boulevard West.
The move — the latest in the debate over where and how people without shelter can camp in the city — comes after a fire at the site earlier this month that damaged a neighboring business.
City officials filed a motion for emergency relief last week, stating that there are several illegal dwellings at the camp that violate of the city’s fire and encroachment codes. They said the 11 people residing there needed to be moved for safety.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen ruled in favor of the city on Friday, allowing officials to relocate the people to the larger camp at the nearby Mahon Creek Path. However, Chen ordered that the structures must remain in place pending the outcome of an appeal hearing on June 25.
Five of the campers attempted to prevent the city from moving them, but Chen denied their request for a temporary restraining order on Monday. The city provided residents who were moved Tuesday with a tent and bedding.
In total, the city has initiated code enforcement cases against 39 illegal structures, said John Stefanski, assistant city manager. In addition to those on Francisco Boulevard, the others were on Andersen Drive between Irwin Street and Rice Drive and at the Mahon Creek Path.
Of those, 10 structures were brought into compliance by their occupants. The remaining 29 structures are subject to the administrative hearing process.
On June 5, an administrative hearing officer ordered campers to remove 13 structures on Andersen Drive between Rice Drive and Irwin Street. The campers did not meet their deadline on Monday, and city officials plan to dismantle the structures on Thursday.
The remaining structures will also be considered at the June 25 hearing in federal court.
“We are navigating some incredibly complex legal areas that have massively constrained the city’s ability to enforce even our own local ordinances,” City Manager Cristine Alilovich told the City Council at its meeting on Monday. “Unregulated camping can and has led to dangerous conditions, including these types of fires and other public health and safety safety concerns which we need the ability to mitigate.”
The fire was reported at 1:25 a.m. June 5, according to court documents. The fire spread to a mattress resting on the fence between the camp and Marin County Roofing Co. at 250 Francisco Blvd. West.
“The fire damaged Marin Roofing’s fence and was so hot it melted the conduit that runs to the business’s propane tank, located only about 50 feet from where the fire burned,” city officials wrote in their motion. This is the third fire connected to the site, officials said.
A fire inspection conducted on June 7 concluded that the living structures on Francisco Boulevard West violated the city’s codes and were a fire hazard.
Christine Miller, owner of Marin Roofing Co., is among business owners in the area who said they fear for their safety. She said that as a roofing company, the business stocks tar, lumber, shingles and several propane tanks among other roofing materials.
“Everything on our property is flammable,” Miller said. “It could have been catastrophic that fire. People could have died.”
Miller said she appreciates the city’s response: “They really stepped up to protect us and our property.”
Debate over how to regulate camps of homeless people in San Rafael has been going on for several years. However, the issue in the Mahon Creek Path area, where 65 to 70 people are living, hit a fever pitch in August. That’s when a group represented by the California Homeless Union challenged the city’s camping ordinance in court.
The ordinance regulated where the camps are allowed and how much space they could occupy. The law was approved as a way to curb a trend of violence, crime, littering and threats against public safety, city officials said.
City officials spent the following months designing a new ordinance in response to a court order mandating that they loosen their rules.
The new rules, approved in May, prohibit camping within 100 feet of playgrounds and within 10 feet of public utility infrastructure.
Camping is prohibited within 250 feet of schools, and sites must include a 10-foot buffer between them or other property, including private property such as businesses.
Campsites can be up to 200 square feet for a single person and up to 400 square feet for up to four people living together, which doubles what was allowed under the previous ordinance.
Alilovich said city officials will begin enforcing the new ordinance next week.
San Rafael filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that the new ordinance should satisfy the court, rendering the original complaint moot. A hearing is set for July 15, Alilovich said.
“We’re extremely frustrated by how much this litigation and subsequent orders from the court seem to defy all logic,” she said. “It’s very, very difficult for us as staff to convey to the council as well as to the community why we cannot enforce our own regulations.”
City officials estimate that the city has spent upward of $2.35 million on costs associated with the Mahon Creek Path and litigation.
That includes about $1 million for staff and police response; $600,000 for waste management, other services and supplies such as tents and bedding; $500,000 for legal services; and about $250,000 for response from the city’s crisis response SAFE Team. About a third of the costs have been funded by grants, Stefanski said.
Mayor Kate Colin said she hears daily from community members “how unacceptable and inhumane this encampment has become.”
“Now our ability to enforce our local fire codes, for the safety of these individuals, has been totally restricted,” Colin said. “I am deeply concerned for the safety of our individuals experiencing homelessness and exceptionally frustrated that our ability to govern and regulate the health and safety of everyone who calls San Rafael home continues to be hampered.”
Robbie Powelson, an advocate for the homeless campers, criticized the city’s response.
“The city is wasting public resources inflicting unnecessary trauma on people in the Mahon Creek Path area,” Powelson said. “This entire situation could have been avoided if the city performed on its grant obligations to the state to get people housed.”
Stefanski said the city is making progress on its plan for a city-sanctioned camping area that will be funded by a $5.99 million state grant. Officials are planning to use the northern part of the Mahon Creek Path between Lincoln Avenue and Francisco Boulevard West.
The city has received seven applications from service providers for property and program management, on-site security, waste management, mobile showers and laundry service, Stefanski said.
Over the next few months, officials will be selecting program contractors. The city also plans to build fencing and install gates at the site, Stefanski said.
The staff’s recommendations on providers and the program are expected to be presented to the City Council in August, Stefanski said.