Residents, business owners clash over proposed 'stay out of drug areas' ordinance at Kent council meeting

Dozens of residents, business owners and service providers spoke during the public-comment period at the Kent City Council meeting on April 1, 2025, delivering sharply divided testimony over a proposed Stay Out of Drug Areas (SODA) ordinance that would create geographically defined exclusion zones for public drug use.

Supporters including property and business owners said visible drug use and related disorder on First Avenue and Meeker Street are driving customers away and harming downtown commerce. Pat Crockett, a property owner who said she travels to Kent regularly, urged the council to “please do have a vote yes on the stay out of drug area, please.” Business owners who testified described repeated break-ins, stolen merchandise and regular encounters with people using drugs outside their doors.

Opponents — including legal professionals, service providers and people with lived experience of homelessness — said SODA zones would criminalize people in crisis, push them away from treatment and shelter, and make overdoses more likely. Monica Mendoza Cawthon, a Kent homeowner and attorney, said zones “are not an effective tool to reduce overdoses” and urged the council to invest in treatment, mobile outreach and housing instead. Sarah Andrews, a peer-support program director who works with people experiencing mental-health and substance-use challenges, said similar zones in other cities have driven people away from services and increased costs associated with incarceration.

Several witnesses described the same Downtown locations from different perspectives. Moon Chan, who said he owns property on First Avenue, said visible drug use and overdoses led investors to abandon a potential purchase. Alyssa Moore, a longtime Meeker Street shop owner, described finding people “unresponsive, typically covered in feces or vomit” and said staff and teenage employees are repeatedly left to clear hazardous drug paraphernalia.

Advocates for alternatives urged the council to expand evidence-based treatment and outreach. Amanda Kerstetter, a service provider, said the city has one methadone clinic with limited hours and asked the council to increase access to medications for opioid use disorder, co-responder outreach and affordable housing. Shalaysha Hudson, who said she previously experienced homelessness, described faith-based outreach that helped her into treatment and asked the council to prioritize programs that build trust over criminal enforcement.

Council member Fincher responded during general discussion to correct what he called misperceptions about the proposed ordinance, saying it “does not bar people from the services area” and that the order “doesn't kick in until they've already gone through the judicial system,” adding that a judge can allow individuals to continue to access meals and services. Fincher also said Kent’s proposed zones are smaller and more narrowly drawn than some other cities’ approaches.

No formal council vote on the SODA ordinance was recorded at the meeting. Mayor Dana Ralph and council members acknowledged the breadth of public testimony and indicated further deliberations and adjustments to ordinance language are expected before any final action.

Why this matters: Downtown business owners and customers described immediate, day-to-day safety and sanitation problems they say are deterring commerce; advocates and service providers warned that exclusion zones will separate people from treatment and housing resources that could reduce overdose deaths. The council faces competing demands for public safety tools, judicial options and expanded health and housing investments.

The city clerk announced four written comments were filed and delivered to council before the meeting. Many speakers asked the council to pair any enforcement tools with funding and expansion of treatment, outreach and housing services.