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Gardner council adopts updated public-offense code and new unlawful-camping rules after debate on parked cars and local resources
Summary
The Gardner City Council adopted the 2025 Kansas City edition of the Uniform Public Offense Code and added an unlawful-camping violation intended to give officers a discretionary, lower-level tool to connect people to services. Council members debated scope, parked vehicles and local shelter capacity before passing the measure.
The City of Gardner on Monday adopted the Kansas City edition (2025) of the Uniform Public Offense Code and added a new unlawful-camping provision intended to give officers a lower-level, discretionary tool to address people living on public infrastructure and to connect them with resources.
City staff presented the change, which defines “camp” to include sleeping, storing personal property or using tents and parked vehicles as living accommodations and prohibits camping on public infrastructure — including park benches, shelters, trails and within set distances of doorways and sidewalks — unless expressly allowed by permit. The proposed violation is classified as a non-class misdemeanor; penalties are not fixed, allowing courts to consider diversion, dismissal or a fine…
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