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Grants Pass approves emergency ordinance package tightening public-space rules on sleeping, obstruction and sanitation
Summary
Council approved a multi-part emergency ordinance to clarify and expand prohibitions on sleeping in public spaces, obstruction of traffic, leaving personal property, public indecency, and related hearings and exclusion procedures; package includes criminal-trespass consequences and expanded enforcement authority.
Grants Pass’ City Council voted on June 3 to adopt an emergency package of municipal-code amendments aimed at addressing health, safety and property concerns tied to the city’s transition from authorized resting sites.
City attorney Stephanie presented a consolidated ordinance that amends sections in chapters 5 and 6 of the municipal code to: make obstructing pedestrian and vehicular traffic explicitly actionable and to clarify consequences; prohibit storing personal belongings or refuse on sidewalks and public rights-of-way with immediate removal authority; expand a ban on placing or removing trash from another person’s receptacle (with an exception for public receptacles); prohibit bathing, washing clothes or other pollution of park water features; and ban sleeping on sidewalks, alleys and recessed entrances. The package also creates streamlined exclusion orders for parks and an amended appeal and hearings process.
On enforcement and penalties, Stephanie said the changes can make failure to move after notification constitute criminal trespass and that the ordinance can cite the applicable state statute. “We may specify that it’s criminal trespass in the second degree under ORS 164.245,” she said during the presentation, noting that, where appropriate, the changes were drafted with law enforcement input. Council members asked about fines and jail time; staff confirmed misdemeanor-level penalties and reiterated that the intent is to provide more tools for on-the-spot compliance rather than to increase routine incarceration.
A key procedural change would make an exclusion order immediately enforceable while still allowing the appellant to file a written appeal; hearings would be before a designated hearings officer who is a practicing attorney. The ordinance package also includes an “effective dismissal” clause that would remove exclusion orders tied to citations or arrests that are later dismissed for lack of probable cause or that result in acquittal.
Public comment included concerns that language banning removal of materials from private trash cans could criminalize bottle-collection activity used by people with limited incomes. Patrick Rooney, a Grants Pass resident, urged the council to avoid unduly harsh effects on people who collect recyclables to earn money.
The council voted to adopt the package as revised and declared an emergency so the ordinance takes immediate effect. The council also asked staff to continue coordination with law enforcement and community-response partners and to return with any clarifications needed following implementation.
What to watch next: staff said the city will schedule follow-up items, including clarifications about enforcement roles for CSOs and cadets and any impacts on court processing of citations and appeals.
Votes at a glance: multi-section municipal code amendments — first reading (emergency) passed; second reading passed; ordinance adopted with emergency clause.
