The Crystal City Council has passed legislation prohibiting sleeping or camping in public areas.
The council voted 7-0 on Aug. 26 to adopt the ordinance, which says, “No person may sleep, camp, pitch tents, or erect other structures for the purpose of creating a permanent or temporary shelter on any public sidewalk, public street, public right of way, alleyway, public park, public property or other unapproved location at any time in violation of any ordinances of the city of Crystal City without the express permission of the city of Crystal City.” Ward 3 Councilwoman Taylor Massa was absent from the meeting.
Those suspected of being in violation of the ordinance will be given the opportunity to relocate before they are given a violation notice or arrest, according to the new legislation.
The ordinance applies only to city property, as opposed to other areas, such as county and state roads and federal property.
City Administrator Jason Eisenbeis said the ordinance is not directly in response to the growing unhoused population in the city, but there is a correlation.
Eisenbeis said there’s an encampment of about 20-30 people staying at the Twin City Levee Commission property east of Walmart near Plattin Creek.
“We’re required by the Army Corps of Engineers to keep that area free of debris and things that can clog up our pumps back there,” he said.
Eisenbeis said the encampment could cause a problem if a flash flood washed all the trash, tents and other belongings from the camp into the Plattin Creek and damaged or destroyed the two downstream levee pumps, which he said cost about $150,000 each.
If the levee pumps fail during a flood, many parts of the city could be flooded, he added.
“It’s an unfortunate situation. We’ve let this go too long, and they can’t stay back there,” he said. “We’re going to end up having serious issues that potentially flood and affect 17,000 residents of Festus-Crystal City in the downtown business areas. Let alone, if those people are back there sleeping in a flash flood situation that dams up, they could drown. It’s a very unsafe environment.”
Eisenbeis said the Twin City Levee Commission will give those living at the encampment an abatement order during the second week of September, and they will have until Oct. 1 to remove their belongings and relocate.
He said the Levee Commission is going to try to involve the Jefferson County Coalition for the Unhoused so resources may be offered to those who want help.
“Everybody tries to be compassionate, but at some point, we have to do what we have to do to protect the integrity of that levee and what it was built for,” Eisenbeis said.
Once the area is cleared of the camp and belongings, the entire 18-acre area owned by the Levee Commission will be “grubbed” by All Seasons Maintenance Services LLC at a cost of $37,000. The cost will be split between the cities of Festus and Crystal City. The grubbing will consist of removing debris and most vegetative matter from the site, including grinding existing trees down to ground level.
Eisenbeis said that once the encampment is cleared out, the city wants to ensure that a new encampment does not start on city property, like city parks, which is why the ordinance was passed. A recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court allows cities to ban people from sleeping and camping in public places.
He said that while Crystal City officials are sympathetic to the plight of the unhoused, they are not the right entity to address the issue.
“We don’t have the resources, the time or the manpower,” he said.
Crystal City is not the first Jefferson County city to adopt an ordinance to address problems related to homelessness, such as camping on public property and in public parks.
Earlier this year, Festus passed an ordinance limiting the times people are allowed on municipal property, restricting the public from occupying property “owned, leased and/or maintained by the city” between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. This property includes city streets, sidewalks and other public property, including parks.
Eisenbeis said that while the Crystal City ordinance does allow for law enforcement to arrest those in violation, he didn’t believe that would be a solution.
“You can’t arrest your way out of this problem, so that’s not what we’re looking to do.”