Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home City Council told city staff last week to move forward with a proposed ordinance to prohibit people from camping out in bus shelters.
Sweet Home has three new shelters, said Ken Bronson, Senior Center manager and Linn County Shuttle director during the council’s regular meeting on Nov. 26. They were built in September at the new City Hall, at 54th and Main and at Clark Mill and Main. An older shelter is located at 13th and Kalmia near the Public Library.
“One of the challenges (is) when the shelters are occupied, bus riders can’t use them,” Brpnson told the council.
One of them, 13th and Kalmia, is used a lot as a camping site, he said.
Bronson said he asked Police Chief Jeff Lynn about it, and Lynn told Bronson there isn’t anything police can do about it because it isn’t against the law.
Bronson suggested passing an ordinance like Albany’s.
“I want to see us take back our bus shelters,” Bronson said.
Lynn presented a draft copy of a proposed ordinance to the council earlier in the month. He said it is based on Albany’s with some adjustments to match it to the City of Sweet Home’s current exclusion processes involving public property and parks.
Diane Gerson said she wasn’t in favor of the ordinance, but the remaining councilors were.
City Manager Ray Towry said he will return with a formal proposed ordinance at the council’s next regular meeting on Dec. 10.
Under the draft ordinance, no one is allowed to use a bus shelter except for boarding, disembarking or waiting for an approved city bus service.
The ordinance would prohibit lying across the seats or the floor or remaining in or within 20 feet of a bus shelter for a period in excess of one hour within a 24-hour period. It also would prohibit placing any object or substance on the seats or floor of a bus shelter that inhibits, blocks or obstructs the use of the seats or floor area of the shelter.
The ordinance would allow the city to exclude an individual from any and all shelters for a violation of the ordinance or any criminal law in or within 20 feet of a shelter.
The first exclusion period would be for 30 days. Subsequent exclusions within two years would be for 90 days. Under an exclusion notice, a person may not be in or within 20 feet of a shelter. A violation of the exclusion could result in a charge of second-degree criminal trespass.
The city manager would hear appeals of an exclusion notice.
Under the ordinance, disabled persons and those who have a “transit dependency” may receive a qualified exclusion permitting them to use the transit system for trips of necessity, such as travel to medical and legal appointments, to school or training, to employment, to obtain food and other necessary items and to access critical services.
Present at the meeting were Cortney Nash, Susan Coleman, Lisa Gourley, Mayor Greg Mahler, Gerson, James Goble and Dave Trask.
In other business, the council approved the signing of the Mid-Valley Partnership Intergovernmental Agreement and Economic Strategy and Action Plan.
The agreement involves Sweet Home, Lebanon, Brownsville, Halsey, Harrisburg, Monroe, Adair Village and Philomath, which are partners in the Oregon Regional Accelerator and Innovation Network, RAIN, program.
The cities are seeking ways to continue their regional cooperation through the creation of the partnership, a framework through which the cities can work together to accomplish their common economic goals and respond to economic opportunities, said Community and Economic Development Director Blair Larsen.
According to the agreement, Corvallis and Albany have a great capacity for supporting economic development, with dedicated city staff and economic development organizations. That allows the larger cities to effectively respond to queries from potential businesses and investors, to Business Oregon and other organizations when they disseminate requests for information on behalf of potential businesses and to facilitate siting, development, operation and growth of new business.
While Oregon has seen economic growth and historically high employment rates, the growth is primarily in larger cities, which have the capacity to attract and support this level of growth, according to the agreement. Rural communities have not shared in the high level of economic prosperity.
Through the agreement, the cities will work together to understand how to position and leverage their individual and joint assets to respond to opportunities, working collaboratively on economic, housing and services markets on a regional basis, according to the agreement. The smaller cities have a competitive advantage in small-town living, and each partner has assets and opportunities unique to it but potentially stronger when tied together and leveraged.
The goals of the partnership are to develop a coordinated “story” about the assets and opportunities available in each city; research, to identify and pursue economic opportunities created by looking at the partner cities and region as a single economic, housing and services system; and to be able to respond to requests for information, invitations to respond to opportunities, create and implement regional economic development strategies and advocate for the region’s interests.