By Pam Wright, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Chatham Voice
Ahead of Monday’s special Chatham-Kent council meeting to deal encampments, two very different motions will be coming forward regarding the rules around so-called tent cities.
Mayor Darrin Canniff is expected to bring forward a nine-point motion that would alter the rules. The biggest change would require encampments to be at least 100 metres away from any private property, a substantial increase of the current guideline of 10 metres.
Other amendments proposed within Canniff’s motion include: only one tent per person; personal items (except for a bicycle) must be stored within the tent, as well as a provision that would allow the municipality to remove garbage.
Part of Canniff’s motion would see the creation of a new bylaw protocol governing encampments as soon as possible.
However, Chatham Coun. Michael Bondy is putting a very different motion forward.
He wants to see tents removed during the day, only allowing them to be erected on municipal lands from one hour before sunset to one hour after sunrise. It also directs designated enforcement officers to be able to “remove, seize, and impound or cause the removal, seizure or impoundment of any property of thing that unlawfully occupies, or has been unlawfully placed or left on municipal lands.”
According to C-K communications manager Eric Labadie, the mayor’s motion draws on best practices gleaned from neighbouring municipalities, as all are dealing with the same issue.
A furor has erupted in the last two weeks after people living in the downtown encampment near the Third Street Bridge in Chatham relocated to the green space at the Chatham-Kent Public Utilities Commission property on Grand Avenue West.
A petition has been started by residents angry the quiet area has been taken over by a homeless encampment.
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