Utah County reviews draft ordinance to curb transient camps on county land

Utah County commissioners heard a detailed staff presentation on a draft ordinance intended to address an increase in transient camps on county-owned canyon lands, a problem deputies said is causing thefts, drug activity and significant environmental damage.

Lieutenant Yvette Rice of the Utah County Sheriff’s Office introduced the topic, saying the county has seen more long-term camps concentrated in canyon areas and that deputies canvassed sites to collect evidence and photographs. “We have requested a discussion item today, obviously, regarding the homeless transient camp issue in Utah County,” Rice said.

Sergeant Wayne Keith, who led the field canvass, told commissioners officers found stolen property, drug paraphernalia and human waste at several sites. “We recovered multiple items of IDs and purses and laptops from some of those transient camps,” Keith said, describing camps that, in his assessment, often housed people engaged in drug use and repeated burglaries rather than residents who are simply down on their luck.

Deputy county attorney Karl Hahn said the draft ordinance—modeled closely on Provo City’s measure—was reviewed against U.S. Supreme Court and Utah Supreme Court precedent and is designed to be narrowly tailored to avoid infringing on legitimate recreational use. “This ordinance only applies to property that’s owned by Utah County,” Hahn said, and it also allows other public entities to request county enforcement on their property.

Key provisions discussed include: - Division of county land into two buckets: property within incorporated cities (where camping without a county event permit would be prohibited) and property outside cities (where limited camping would be allowed under criteria). - A working definition of a campsite tied to bedding or a stove, and a definition of semi-permanent or permanent structure (roughly anything a single person could not carry away). - A substantially shorter enforcement window than federal rules: the draft suggests limiting camping to no more than 24 consecutive hours or a single night within a 7-day period at the same campsite or within a 5-mile radius, to make enforcement practicable for deputies. - A removal-of-unlawful-campsites authority, because county staff reported no clear existing mechanism to remove abandoned campsites or direct disposal of abandoned property; the county’s solid-waste ordinance was noted as outdated (last revised in 1956) and not fit for handling drug paraphernalia or human waste.

Commissioners pressed staff on enforcement logistics and civil-liberty concerns. Several commissioners asked whether existing criminal statutes for burglary and drug possession would suffice; deputies and the county attorney argued they often do not, because communal camps make it difficult to tie evidence to an individual. Deputies also said many occupants decline offers of services. Hahn emphasized the ordinance was designed to give deputies a realistic, local enforcement tool without requiring federal warrants or lengthy federal processes.

No formal vote on the draft ordinance occurred at the meeting. Hahn and sheriff’s office staff asked commissioners to review the draft language and return suggested edits; staff said Provo City and other municipalities have adopted similar measures and the county’s draft aims to offer continuity of enforcement across jurisdictions.