County staff seek direction on volunteer cleanup, abatement or hearings for large encampment on county land east of Redmond

County code‑enforcement staff and property management presented commissioners with a request for direction on April 21 after a long public and staff discussion about a large county‑owned parcel east of Redmond that has hosted numerous unpermitted camping sites, solid waste and hazardous materials, and frequent 911 dispatch calls.

Angie Havanier, administrative manager for code enforcement and coordinated services, summarized the case history: a citizen complaint was received Sept. 14, 2024; the site was prioritized as a public‑health and safety issue; pre‑enforcement notice and subsequent notices of violation were issued; and a code‑enforcement hearing is scheduled for May 6, 2025. Staff said county parcels in the area total roughly 1,600 acres and the cited tax lot contains multiple access addresses, which has complicated mapping and enforcement.

Staff provided three options for board direction: - Option 1: Initiate policy GA‑23 and remove unpermitted encampments by using a voluntary compliance agreement (VCA) encompassing the violations cited. - Option 2: Hold the current code‑enforcement violations in abeyance (delay active enforcement) while other mitigation and managed‑camp options are developed. - Option 3: Proceed with formal code‑enforcement hearings and abatement under the scheduled May 6 hearing.

Staff and deputies described dispatch data and safety concerns: an overlay produced for the board showed roughly 2,600 dispatch calls to the area since 2020, with 229 calls already this year. Inspectors and sheriff’s deputies reported extensive solid‑waste accumulations, inoperable vehicles and human waste at multiple locations on the parcel; contractors provided a high‑level cleanup estimate for the portion of the parcel outside the city limits (contractor estimating did not include removal of ~100 vehicles, which would be a separate contract and cost).

Commissioners pressed staff on whether the county should coordinate abatement now or work toward managed alternatives that are being planned (a temporary managed camp being developed with city partners, and other projects at DSL and Core 3 parcels). Deputy county administrator Eric Croft recommended holding enforcement in abeyance for this parcel while the county focuses on prioritized partner projects (DSL, Core 3 and Juniper Ridge managed‑camp work), because state precedent limits removing people from public land if there is no alternative site. He said the county’s priority remains to create viable alternatives before large‑scale removals.

Several commissioners asked staff to return with clearer phasing options; others urged more immediate abatement and use of GA‑23 to remove encampments and property now. Property management cautioned that cleanup is not a one‑time activity: keeping people off thousands of acres will require ongoing patrols, monitoring and budget. Staff said DSL, Core 3 and Juniper Ridge remain top priorities for the county’s coordinated work on homelessness and encampment management; the board asked staff to return with a narrower set of options and a timeline for next steps, and scheduled further discussion for an upcoming meeting.

The board did not take a formal enforcement vote on April 21; staff left the May 6 hearing on the calendar while seeking clearer policy direction and potential phased voluntary‑compliance approaches that could coordinate with managed camp openings later in the year.