Chico council keeps alternate homeless camping site at Eaton/Cohasset, directs staff to strengthen rules and management

The Chico City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to keep the city's alternate camping site at Eaton and Cohasset and ordered staff to return in two weeks with options to strengthen site management, enforcement and limited livability improvements.

The council acted after a lengthy staff presentation and more than an hour of public comment. Eric Gustafson, the city's public works operations and maintenance director, told the council the decision was difficult because "there are really no good options," and that staff's top-ranked choice remained the existing site because it is already set up with fencing, surveillance, water and restroom service.

The council's move responds to a settlement agreement requirement (paragraph 10(m)) that the city offer designated public property where camping may be temporarily available when individuals do not qualify for available shelter. Gustafson told the council the agreement limits how often occupants may be moved and that the city has about 15 months remaining under that settlement.

Residents and business owners from neighborhoods proposed as alternative locations pushed back on several sites staff evaluated, particularly a parcel at Eaton and Hicks. "The impacts will have on the subdivision, but more importantly, the impacts it's gonna have on the residents out there," said Bill Webb, a nearby property owner, citing traffic and safety concerns. Several other speakers from the Hicks Lane, Rancho Chico and adjacent neighborhoods said moving the site there would bring documented problems closer to homes and schools.

Some speakers urged strengthening services and management at the current Eaton/Cohasset site instead of relocating it. "The people who are committing the crimes that you're all complaining about ... are not the people in the campsite," volunteer Laurie Mason told the council, saying the locked gate and services have improved conditions. Community advocates and the North State Shelter Team argued a more managed, smaller-site model and targeted pilot programs (including tiny-home pilots on church lots) could reduce harm and better serve vulnerable residents.

Councilmember Sean O'Brien, who made the motion, said the council must do more to clarify and "beef up" the site's code of conduct and other policies: "I want us to take a deeper dive into the existing site as to what the existing code of conduct rules are, what those things we have imposed, what we can't impose. I want to revisit that and look at that and bring some solid things back to this council so we can do just that." The motion directed staff to return in two weeks with specific options, including potential security/monitoring approaches, enhanced enforcement of the site's code of conduct and possible small livability improvements.

Councilmembers who represent neighborhoods affected by the site voiced frustration at the lack of a better option and endorsed the motion to improve management rather than shift impacts to other neighborhoods. Councilmember Van Overbeck said moving the site would simply transfer the problem and recommended the council spend relocation funds to improve on-site management. Vice Mayor Bennett said he was "open to considering some improvements to the alternate site" but urged fiscal restraint.

In his presentation, Gustafson reviewed other city-owned and controlled locations staff evaluated: an 11.5-acre parcel across the street from the current site (large but lacking utilities and with poor access), Eaton & Hicks (fenced and with utilities but adjacent to many homes and the future Fire Station 6), the Fair Street detention basin (2 acres, not adjacent to housing but subject to environmental/set-aside constraints), Depot Park (a park with infrastructure but heavy impacts to student housing nearby), and larger parcels including Tiker Ponds (34 acres with poor access and wildfire risk). Staff also noted a privately owned half-acre parcel on Ninth Street with utilities but a high asking price.

Gustafson said the current encampment originally began in 2022 and that staff now enforce a code of conduct and have a departure process, locked vehicle access and case management ties to the Jesus Center and behavioral-health partners. He told council there are roughly 18 occupants at the site, many of whom are there because shelter policies exclude some people (for example, people with more than two dogs).

The motion carried 7-0. Staff will return in two weeks with specific options for enhanced monitoring and enforcement, costs, and potential minor livability improvements the council may choose to fund in the short term while the settlement agreement remains in effect.