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Council explores private-property safe-parking, tiny homes and stepped approaches
Summary
Councilors and providers discussed using existing ordinance language allowing camping on private property or faith-based lots, safe-parking and smaller scattered-site options as alternatives to a single large sanctioned campsite; staff said outreach and property-owner incentives would need design and legal clarity.
Councilors discussed whether the city could leverage the camping-code section that allows camping in privately owned parking lots or on private property with written authorization, and whether a safe-parking or modular-home hybrid could be feasible if property owners engage. "There's a piece of the ordinance that we don't we haven't really even talked about or isn't necessarily something that we have explored," one councilor said, urging staff to inform the public that the option exists.
Council members and service providers cautioned that nonprofit clinics and shelters often need their parking lots available for clients, and that clear supervision and recourse (trespass and provider-level rules) would be required. Staff proposed an education/outreach campaign to connect potential hosts with ordinance criteria and to assess provider capacity and supervision requirements before pursuing a dispersed model or site-based program.
