Tent policy for Bloomington public parks to be considered by board at Aug. 16 special meeting
A special meeting has appeared on the calendar for Bloomington’s board of park commissioners. It is set for 4 p.m. this coming Wednesday (Aug. 16) in city council chambers.
As of Sunday afternoon, no agenda for the special meeting had been posted. [Added Aug. 14, 2023: The agenda and meeting packet have been posted. Here’s a link: Aug. 16, 2023 board of park commissioners special meeting packet.]
But based on the agenda for a July 27 board work session, Wednesday’s special meeting will focus on a new policy that addresses the use of tents and other enclosed structures in Bloomington’s public parks during the day.
The July 27 work session agenda was limited to one general topic. The agenda items included: use of structures on parks properties; incident reports; a draft policy; and scheduling a special meeting.
In the last few months, the city has received complaints through its uReport system, about the tents and tarps that unhoused people have set up in some city parks, like Seminary Park, Lower Cascades Park, RCA Community Park, and along The B-Line Trail.
Currently, the tents that people set up early in the day, then break down and remove before 11 p.m., are in compliance with the city’s special use policy (#13040) against camping in the parks.
What the current policy prohibits is “camping on lands of the department or inhabiting any structure or facility overnight without a permit;” The notion of “overnight” is defined in part by park hours. Bloomington city parks are open only from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Complaints about people setting up tents and camping in Bloomington public parks have a years-long history.
In late 2020, the Bloomington mayor John Hamilton’s administration tried to address the complaints about people setting up tents in parks during the day—by recommending that the parks board revise its special use policy.
At that time, the administration wanted the board to prohibit (emphasis added) “camping upon or otherwise inhabiting any property, structure, or facility of the department, at any time without a permit.”
But at its Dec. 8, 2020 meeting, the board’s vote on changing the policy failed on a 1–3 tally. Casting the sole vote of support was commissioner Les Coyne, who has since retired from the board after more than four decades of service. Now serving in that seat is Jim Whitlatch.
Park commissioners who voted against the policy change in 2020 were Kathleen Mills, Ellen Rodkey, and Israel Herrera. They are still serving on the board.
In 2020, the policy focus was on the activity of camping. Based on the staff memo supporting this year’s July 27 work session, the policy focus now is the type of structures that are allowed to be set up in parks. From the memo:
Individuals have erected and occupied camping structures and makeshift enclosures at Park locations, prohibiting the use and enjoyment of these spaces by the whole community. These structures are often used in violation of the Special Use Policy (overnight 11 p.m. – 5 a.m.). Camping structures and makeshift enclosures have become a serious public health risk and safety issue due to vandalism, illegal activity, and the accumulation of abandoned property and garbage.
In 2020, a couple of days after the board of park commissioners voted down the daytime camping policy change, the Hamilton administration acted to remove a Seminary Park encampment. Camping there had persisted overnight, after the park’s closing hours.
Shortly after that, an encampment was re-established in Seminary Park. Again in January 2021, the administration removed the Seminary Park encampment.
Those events led Bloomington’s city council to consider an ordinance in early March of 2021 that would have provided protections to encampments in city parks. That ordinance failed to pass, after it was considered by the council at a meeting lasting nine hours, ending at 3:21 a.m.
Later in 2021, in mid-August, about two years ago, a new general police order was issued, which regulates the removal of encampments. The order includes some requirements for posting notice, and for some limited storage of personal property for encampment residents.
The general police order was used few days after it was issued, to remove an encampment under the B-Line bridge at Grimes Lane.
On Saturday, Aug. 12, The B Square saw a handful of tents, tarps, and hammocks that had been set up in Seminary Park. By 11 p.m. they had all been removed. By 11 a.m. on Sunday morning, a couple of tents had again been set up.
The next regular meeting of the board of park commissioners is set for Aug. 22, the week after the Aug. 16 special meeting.
