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Safe Lots are places where people who are living on the streets of Longmont in their vehicles can safely park. There are approximately 60 of these vehicles currently in our city.
For the four plus years that I’ve been on council we have had residents attend the council meetings and send emails to bring our attention to the health and safety issues of RV’s, trailers and sleeper vans using the public streets as their personal property for their vehicles/homes.
The police department has also reached out to the council about the danger of some of these vehicles leaking fluids, dumping brown water onto the streets, leaving garbage, stowing several propane tanks and old batteries in their vehicles, etc. These are the people that have no connection to Longmont but have realized we have, unlike our neighboring municipalities, no strict regulations against them. We should not allow people living in these vehicles to park on our streets, or any public lot in our city.
Some residents want to live in their vehicles. They consider their RV or sleeper camper their home. I respect that, however, our public streets, trail heads and parks are not set up for residential living. There are no utilities. There are no facilities. RV lots such as a KOA campground are set up for these types of vehicles.
Should the City of Longmont consider using Safe Lots as one tool to address homelessness?
An ordinance that council had enacted let people living in camper vehicles move their vehicles from place to place with unintended consequences. Police found themselves chasing the same vehicles around town, handing out tickets ensuring that they don’t park in one place permanently. The ordinance didn’t solve the problems. It was too soft of an approach.
My motion on council was to direct staff to work with the County Commissioners and organizations to find a place on county land within the city for a temporary safe lot. I directed them to a county lot on Alaska Avenue as a place to start.
So, who would be allowed to stay in a SafeLot?
A SafeLot in Longmont would be for residents who do not want to live in a vehicle but have been evicted, had rents raised above their means to pay or other unforeseen circumstances. Their vehicle must be mechanically safe and have a current emissions sticker. They would also have to become part of our Coordinated Entry system, letting staff put them on a list to find them a home. The Lot would be a temporary safe place to park until a permanent home could be found. A dump station would not have to be installed as there is one at the Boulder County Fairgrounds campsite. I have visited the current HOPE SafeLot and seen what a simple, safe place to park, shower and get a meal can do to help people.
A SafeLot is only one conversation about a problem that affects our residents and police department. There may be combined solutions to keep our city and residents safe. At the end of the day, it is council’s challenge to solve. You can be assured that we are working on it.
My comments and opinions are my own and do not represent Longmont council as a whole.
--Joan Peck, Longmont City Council
