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Avon looks at new laws addressing homelessness in town

Town works toward revising laws on camping on public, private property as police department struggles with enforcement

Avon is revising its laws around camping in town, which regulate where and for how long people are allowed to sleep overnight.
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily archive

After reviewing the challenges of enforcing the town’s current camping laws in August, the Avon Town Council is moving forward with the first updates to the rules in 45 years.

Town Attorney Nina Williams brought the revisions to the council on Tuesday.

Though the new rules refer to “camping,” in many ways they are designed to address unhoused people living in town. While Avon does not have a widespread issue of extended camping, or homelessness, the town’s police department does encounter some long-term campers.



“We have had some, I suppose, persistent people that have been camping for long periods of time. We, I would say, have been extremely patient with those individuals,” said Greg Daly, Avon’s chief of police.

Why revise the laws on camping?

Avon’s current camping bans, in place since 1979, have been found to be unenforceable by the town’s police department.

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In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in City of Grants Pass, Or. v. Johnson et al. that municipalities can charge those sleeping in public places with a criminal offense, including arresting or fining them, regardless of the availability of housing options. Before the decision, municipalities could only implement camping bans in places where there were available housing alternatives, such as homeless shelters.

There are no established homeless shelters anywhere in Eagle County. The nearest locations with adequate resources to assist unhoused people are in Grand Junction and Denver.

“We are not resourced. This county is not resourced. We have so many available housing challenges for the people who live and work here,” Daly said. “To try and accommodate other people, we’re just not big enough to do that.”

Eagle County has a small Homeless Services team to help unhoused people in the county.

“They do their best to connect people with permanent housing, but, unfortunately, there is none in Eagle County,” Daly said. “There is a little bit in Garfield County, but one of the last cases I talked to them about, they were trying to get someone into housing in Denver. It’s complex.”

The police department has tried several approaches to assist unhoused people: Purchasing bus tickets to places with stronger support systems and homeless shelters, connecting people with local resources, and, occasionally, putting people up in hotel rooms.

“The last person I did put in a hotel, unfortunately, did decide to bite me,” Daly said.

Some officers have even spent their own money to help unhoused people. “They’ll buy them food and they’ll buy them clothes at Walmart,” Daly said.

The department has seen issues including people camping on private property (which is trespassing), people leaving trash near their campsites, people urinating around their tents, and people with a mix of mental health issues.

“We are not resourced. This county is not resourced. We have so many available housing challenges for the people who live and work here. To try and accommodate other people, we’re just not big enough to do that.”

Greg Daly, Avon chief of police

One of the bigger problems faced by officers is when they repeatedly ask a person to move on and that person continually refuses.

“We’ve had officers repeatedly going to tents and talking to them, connecting them with those services, and in some cases, they just do not want to hear it,” Daly said. “How many times can we go back? Is 10 enough? Is 20 enough? Is 30 enough?”

“I would say we have been extremely sensitive, compassionate and understanding, but there has to be a point. I don’t believe that residents and guests of Avon want homeless camps popping up in the middle of Avon,” Daly said.

The new laws in Avon will prohibit camping on all town property (including Harry A. Nottingham Park, pictured), save with permission from the town manager or chief of police, and limit camping on private property to two days per month with permission from the property owner.
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily

Camping in the winter in Avon also poses safety concerns.

“The reality is, this is a very harsh climate for someone to try and live in a tent. We’re not doing it because we’re trying to move them on because they’re causing an issue. We’re genuinely concerned about their health and safety,” Daly said.

While for most unhoused people in Avon, living outside of a home is not their first choice, that is not always the case.

“There are some people who want to be unhoused. Some people actually chose that lifestyle, do not want to be inside a building or a residence. That’s their choice, but the balance of that is their safety,” Daly said.

While the ordinance is about “camping,” that includes people living in their vehicles, which is not uncommon in Eagle County due to the lack of affordable housing.

“There are quite a lot of people in this county living out of their vehicles,” Daly said.

“I know 14 of my friends that are living in vehicles right now, and 12 of them have two jobs. They’re making good money, there’s just not places for them to live,” said Avon resident Tim McMahon.

McMahon asked the Town Council to think about how it can help its hardworking community members find places to live.

“I understand we don’t want that image here (of homelessness and panhandling), because we have lots of very rich people here, but a lot of those rich people are going into establishments and being served by people that live in their cars, and people that are living on couches, and people making do,” he said.

Avon has committed to making creating more community housing opportunities a priority going forward.

What do Avon’s new rules on camping say?

Before the Grants Pass decision, the legal avenues officers could take were limited. Those camping on private property could be charged with trespassing. Those on public property were asked to move along. Both were offered resources.

Under the new rules on camping, there will be two types of camping violations, one for camping on public land, and one for camping on privately owned land.

Under both categories, tents, tarpaulins, lean-tos, sleeping bags, bedrolls, blankets, vehicles and “any other form of protection from the elements other than clothing,” are considered forms of unlawful shelter. Picknicking is still permitted, but “activities of daily living,” like “eating, sleeping or storing personal property” constitute camping.

The new rules for public land establish that it is illegal to camp on any town-owned property without prior permission from the town manager or chief of police. In the ordinance, public property is defined as “any park, parkway, recreation area, open space or other Town property, including any public right-of-way or upon any structure within the same,” including public sidewalks, streets, railways, alleys, parking spaces and curbs.

For private property, it will be illegal for a person to camp on private property without the consent of the property owner or authorized agent for longer than two nights within one month.

This is designed to permit limited backyard camping but prevent commercialized camping or the use of a yard for the installation of a pseudo-accessory dwelling unit.

“You might have the kids camping in the backyard. You might have guests there camping for a couple nights. We don’t want to enforce that. We know that’s a normal, use your house, activity in the summer. We don’t want that to turn into an Accessory Dwelling Unit, an RV in your driveway,” said Eric Heil, Avon town manager.

The Town Council will review its new policies on camping in town once more at a future Town Council meeting, scheduled for Feb. 11. If approved, they will go into effect 30 days later.


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