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San Dimas introduces ordinance to align camping and storage rules with recent court rulings and state guidance
Summary
Council introduced Ordinance 13-10 (municipal code amendment 24-06) to update the city's camping and property-storage rules to conform with recent court decisions and a governor's executive order, including changing pre-removal notice and storage-period requirements; the introduction passed 4-0.
The San Dimas City Council on Aug. 27 introduced Ordinance 13-10, a municipal code text amendment (24-06) to align the city's camping and storage regulations with a recent higher-court decision and guidance from the governor's executive order.
Director of Community Development Luis Tirico explained the key changes: the city will remove a prior requirement that shelter be available before banning camping citywide (reflecting a recent Supreme Court decision described by staff), increase notice to 48 hours before clearing encampments (up from the current 24-hour notice), and shorten the period the city stores removed personal property from 90 days to 60 days to match the governor's recommendations. Tirico said the city intends to continue its service contract with Licata to provide outreach and four beds for services.
Council members praised the city's partnership with Licata and said they supported aligning city code with recent legal changes. One council member described increased field contact by the sheriff's housing and CAT teams and thanked staff for the ordinance changes. The council moved to introduce the ordinance and waive further reading; the motion to introduce passed unanimously, 4-0.
Why it matters: The ordinance clarifies enforcement authority and updates local notice and property-storage practices to mirror recent court interpretations and state guidance; staff said the changes should make encampment removals operationally simpler for public works and code enforcement while preserving the city's outreach contract.
Quote: "So the ordinance included a list of prohibited places... With this recent court decision, the Supreme Court ruled that you don't have to provide shelter to prohibit citywide camping," Director Tirico said. "We still have the contract with Licata; our intent is still to continue that contract and provide those services including the four beds."
