Santa Cruz selects new temporary homeless camp location

After hours of discussion and public comment, the Santa Cruz City Council chose parking lot 24 between Washington and Chestnut as the new location for a temporary homeless shelter.

The parking lot is near Neary Lagoon and is the smallest of the 6 proposed locations. This comes as Santa Cruz is planning to shut down the current homeless camp, found near the Ross on River Street at the Gateway Center.

Up to 50 people can live there under the planned Safe Sleeping and Storage Program, which will be run by a non-profit with the city providing infrastructure.

A business owner near Lot 24 says he is disappointed with the location choice.

“I’m devastated. I’m shocked that they’re moving this into our neighborhoods in downtown Santa Cruz,” said Dan Foy, the owner Perrigo’s Auto Body. “There’s literally three feet between my building and that lot fence, and that’s where this is going to take place.”

Foy says he is concerned that it will be too close to businesses, neighborhoods and a soccer field. It was a frustration shared by many people at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

“It’s a big problem,” said one woman who brought her child with her during the meeting’s public comment period. “I feel for you guys. I don’t know how to solve it, but I’m just saying I’m concerned and I’m worried, and these (children) can’t protect themselves, so it’s up to all of us to do that.”

“Whichever site that you select, you’d make sure that it’s outside some minimum distance from children under the age of high schoolers,” said another man during public comment.

By all indications, the homeless encampment at Ross is still scheduled to be shut down on April 17. On top of Lot 24, the city is also looking to re-open a homeless site at 1220 River Street, which could house up to 60 people.

Some homeless people spoke out during the meeting as well and hoped they will be treated as human beings.

“What we are is we’re people without homes,” said one homeless woman. “We can’t afford it, for whatever reasons, we have barriers. That doesn’t make us immediately untrustworthy, that doesn’t make us scary.”

The Santa Cruz City Council reserved the power to renew the continuation of an encampment at Lot 24 every 30 days, meaning they could shut it down after a month.

UPDATE 03/19/18 8:31 p.m.: The Santa Cruz City Council has selected LOT 24 as the location of a temporary homeless encampment. Lot 24 is part of a parking lot between Chestut Street and Washington Street, down the block from the Santa Cruz Police Department, and behind Perrigo’s Auto Body Shop.

UPDATE 03/19/18 6:15 p.m. Some Santa Cruz residents are outraged after the city announced several sites for potential temporary homeless encampments and safe parking programs.

Santa Cruz City Manager Martin Bernal announced in a statement Monday that council members may decide on Tuesday night a site for a short-term pilot program for safe camping and transitional camping.

Areas being considered include the Wharf Corporation Yard, the north Depot Park parking lot, a city-owned space on High Street, lot 17 behind Wheel Works, Jessie Street Marsh and San Lorenzo Park.

One of the sites stirring up the most controversy is the space on High Street, which is about 100 yards from Westlake Elementary School.

Parents with children who attend school there say they were shocked to see that area even being considered.

Heather, has a child who is a fourth-grader at Westlake said, “We have kids on campus from pre-K up to fifth grade, and it’s less than a football field away and it blows my mind that that’s even an option.”

Bernal writes that this is an urgent issue in the community, especially as homeless encampments continue to grow. He also emphasizes that it is only a short-term pilot program right now.

He also says the program will not look like the Gateway encampment and that the city is looking to include the community in the process.

“I also want to reassure community members that identification of sites Tuesday night is only a first step; there will be many more to take, and the community will be involved in those steps and conversations,” he wrote.

Heather also told KION she fears that, when the encampment gets full or when people are turned away for not following the rules, they will end up on school grounds. “Most of them already are defecating and urinating on the street and, of course, they’re going to come onto the school campus because that’s the next place to go where they can have a place to sit, and (it) has bathrooms to utilize.”

She said the City Council also needs to look into Megan’s Law. The law, in part, states that the whereabouts of registered sex offenders need to be made public. Heather said she doesn’t see how that will work with this proposal. “Their proposed situation with a nonprofit or church organization trying to police the encampment. I don’t see how that’s going to happen and I don’t see how they’re going to figure out who’s there and who’s not and if there are any registered sex offenders and I think that’s one of my biggest issues.”

Concerns were also raised about other sites, including the Jessie Street marshland. Sarah Nash, who has lived in that area for 30 years said the city doesn’t even allow dogs on that site, so she doesn’t see why it would allow an encampment.

“We can’t even walk our dogs on the San Lorenzo River because it’s protected and part of the National Monterey Bay Sanctuary. So we can’t even walk our dogs down there, but we’re going to have homeless people hanging out here with this (marsh) that feeds the ocean. Sure.”

Others say crime is already a problem in the area and they think an encampment would make it worse.

PREVIOUS STORY: Santa Cruz City Manager Martin Bernal announced in a statement Monday that councilmembers may decide on a site for a short-term pilot program for safe camping and transitional camping Tuesday night.

On March 5, staff presented lists of potential sites for a shelter. Some areas considered include the Wharf Corporation Yard, the north Depot Park parking lot, lot 17 behind Wheel Works, Jesse Street Marsh and San Lorenzo Park.

Bernal writes that this is an urgent issue in the community, especially as homeless encampments continue to grow. He also emphasizes that it is only a short-term pilot program right now.

He also says the program will not look like the Gateway encampment and that they are looking to include the community.

“I also want to reassure community members that identification of sites Tuesday night is only a first step; there will be many more to take, and the community will be involved in those steps and conversations,” he wrote.

The sites will be discussed and possibly decided on at a City Council study session on March 19 at 4:00 p.m.