Camping draws scrutiny of ES council

The Eureka Springs City Council has taken the first step in regulating camping on private property.

At its regular meeting Monday, July 25, at The Auditorium, the council voted 5-1 to assign a number and approve the first reading of an ordinance aimed at cutting down on camping or using a vehicle as temporary residence that may draw the ire of neighboring residents.

The new proposed ordinance would allow the city to ticket both those camping and the owner of the property if camping takes place more than seven times in a year, but only when there’s a complaint.

“Part of this is, if the neighbors complain, then that would bring it to the attention of the city,” said Forrest Jacobi, Eureka Springs city attorney. “If nobody complains, then they’re not a nuisance. The problem is that we have vehicles parking on private property that have been there for quite a length of time. And neighbors are not happy with this.

“If your neighbors don’t complain, nobody cares. However, there are some that people are complaining and this would allow them to complain and allow the police to come in and issue tickets and stop that …Like I said, one particular spot I can think of, there were three vans in there. And it was playing music late at night and they’ve been there for six, eight months. They’re living, not just camping.”

Council member Terry McClung pointed out that regulations are needed only for temporary lodging in places such as yards and driveways.

“It’s one thing if your kids or grandkids are putting up a pup tent in the backyard and sleeping in the yard,” McClung said. “But do it as a place to live, no sir.”

Council members Harry Meyer and Melissa Greene both said they have received complaints about the issue.

“There’s two or three vehicles on a piece of property that have been there since the springtime,” Meyer said. “And they’ve got bags of trash and they’ve been living there, right there within spitting distance of people’s homes. And it’s not been very sanitary. So, yeah, we don’t need that.”

The only council member to vote against the proposed ordinance was Autumn Slane, who said she felt more research is necessary before taking any action.

“I just find it hard to believe that we don’t have anything other than this ordinance that you guys want to put in regulating any of these things,” Slane said. “I would like to do a little more research myself. I feel a little bit rushed on this. That’s my opinion.”

The proposed ordinance will have to be read and approved by the council two more times to go into effect.

“Again, only the neighbors would be counting or checking up on this and bringing it to the attention of the police,” Jacobi said. “If someone would be violating this, if somebody came in and, you know, parked on a weekend and came back two months later, parked on a weekend, and they’re not causing any problems, there would be no issues.”

In other council business, the council approved transferring parking meters from downtown parking lots to replace broken meters along streets. This will be a temporary fix as the city continues to monitor a long-term plan for downtown parking meters.

The council also approved leasing a small piece of land behind city-owned property at 55 S. Main Street to Kolin Paulk, for five years for $500. A grease disposal container will be housed on the land.