Here's why the Topeka City Council is considering a ban on camping along trails

A move to ban camping along Topeka's trails appears to have some support among Topeka City Council members.

"Two or three" council members have told Neil Dobler, deputy mayor and city councilman, they would be willing to join him in cosponsoring such a measure, Dobler told The Capital-Journal on Thursday.

Dobler asked city attorney Amanda Stanley at last week's council meeting to craft a proposal that would prohibit camping, for safety reasons, on public property within a specific distance from the center line of any public trail.

Dobler suggested the distance be 500 feet but said he was open to increasing or decreasing that figure, depending upon what's practical.

What is the Topeka city attorney warning about?

The mayor and council during a special meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday in their chambers at 214 S.E. 8th plan to explore possibilities for making changes to Topeka's ordinance regulating camping in the city.

In a document that's part of the agenda packet for that meeting, Stanley cautioned that the U.S. Supreme Court in December 2019 chose not to review a ruling the 9th Circuit Court had issued favoring homeless people who had brought a lawsuit against the city of Boise, Idaho.

"The 9th Circuit held in the case that the Eighth Amendment prohibited the imposition of criminal penalties for sitting, sleeping or lying outside on public property on homeless individuals who could not obtain shelter," she wrote.

Homeless camps along Topeka trails has become 'a safety issue'

Dobler recalled at last week's council meeting how, when panhandling at Topeka intersections became a problem, the city council addressed it as a safety issue in January 2020 by banning it at the 23 crossings that had seen the most crashes due to distracted driving.

That move "did some good," Dobler said.

He suggested at last week's council meeting that the city likewise take a safety-oriented approach to the increased number of homeless camps that have popped up along area trails.

"Clearly, it's become a safety issue," Dobler said.

He stressed Thursday to The Capital-Journal that the Kaw Valley Bicycle Club has gone on record as considering it unsafe, particularly for women and children who are alone, to use parts of the Shunga and Landon trails located near homeless camps.

KVBC member Kim Teske suffered painful injuries to her left calf that became swollen and massively infected when a homeless woman's dog bit her June 15 as she rode along the Shunga Trail.

Topeka police officers and Shawnee County Sheriff's deputies on Friday began "conducting joint proactive enforcement along the entire trail-park system due to recent events and public concern," said Rosie Nichols, public safety communications specialist for Topeka's city government.

Topeka police were requested Thursday to investigate an assault that occurred Tuesday at the Warren Nature Trails near Felker Park, she said.

The victim was taken by American Medical Response ambulance to a Topeka hospital with injuries that were serious but not life-threatening, she said.

The incident was reported that day to Shawnee County Park Police, she said. Further details weren't being released.

What are the current rules regarding camping?

Dobler was among the five current members of the council who were present in December 2019 as that body voted 9-0 to approve the city's current ordinance regulating camping.

Then-Mayor Michelle De La Isla didn't have a vote and wasn't present that evening. She chose not to veto the ordinance.

That ordinance, which remains in effect, bans camping:

• In, on or under public infrastructure, including bus shelters, bridges, overpasses and flood control works.

• Within 10 feet of any doorway, loading dock, stairway or fire escape.

• Within two "specified zones," with those being downtown Topeka and NOTO.

Council members Dobler, Karen Hiller, Sylvia Ortiz, Tony Emerson and Mike Padilla, who is now Topeka's mayor, were all among those voting in favor of that ordinance. The other four people who voted in favor of it are no longer on the council.

In a memorandum that's part of the agenda for Tuesday's special meeting, Stanley wrote that when it was passed, that ordinance was viewed as a "limited partial ban on camping that represented a balanced restriction to protect certain sensitive areas and infrastructure while continuing to meet the needs of the unsheltered" in Topeka.

What about camping along trails?

The council, just before approving the current version of the camping ordinance, voted 5-4 to reject an amendment Ortiz proposed that would have arranged for "trails" to be among the places where camping was banned.

Among current governing body members, Ortiz and Emerson voted that evening in favor of adding the trails restriction while Dobler, Hiller and Padilla voted against it.

That vote took place after Topeka police Sgt. Josh Klamm told the mayor and council that the number of people camping near trails in Topeka at the time was 10 to 20.

Today, Dobler said, far more people are camping along trails. He said he has heard from "a lot" of people who no longer use this community's trails after dogs chased them or homeless people yelled at them or threw things at them.

"It's really changed over the last couple years," Dobler said.

The late Mayor Bill Bunten had a favorite saying, 'You can do something, or you can do nothing,'" Dobler told the mayor and council last week.

"This is an attempt to start doing something," he said. "Let's start the conversation. Let's see where it goes."

Votes from five of the nine council members would be needed to approve a revised version of the camping ordinance. The mayor would then have power to veto the revised measure.

More: As homelessness dominates Topeka headlines, TRM Ministries is trying to address its role

Shawnee County Commission considers camping proposal

Meanwhile, the Shawnee County Commission Thursday heard the first reading of a proposed home rule resolution that would ban camping on county property except in designated places, such as the campground at Lake Shawnee.

Commissioners at 9 a.m. Thursday will receive public comment and may consider approving the measure.

County counselor Jim Crowl said its passage would provide the county with "civil remedies only" to deal with unauthorized camping and would not provide for the criminal prosecution of any violator, Crowl said.

Criminally, people camping on county park properties between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. may already be prosecuted for criminal trespassing.

The proposal before commissioners would authorize the county to impound property from violators. The county would give violators seven days' notice before their property could be impounded.

Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Topeka City Council is considering a ban on camping along trails