Chris Schulz Published

Clarksburg Advances Camping Ban

Two buildings stand tall against a bright, partially cloudy sky. They have windows on every floor. In the foreground sits an upright commemorative plaque, a pop-up tent with an individual seated beneath it and the West Virginia flag. The building closest to the camera reads "Harrison County Courthouse," with two decorative eagle sculptures displayed on either side of the sign.
The Harrison County Courthouse is located in downtown Clarksburg, which serves as the county seat.
Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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The Clarksburg City Council voted Thursday evening to advance an ordinance to “prohibit camping on public property and unauthorized private property.”

The City of Clarksburg is the latest municipality in West Virginia to consider restricting public camping in response to  homelessness following similar action over the past year from Parkersburg, Wheeling and most recently Morgantown

Several community members spoke against the ordinance during the meeting. Many of them, including Christopher Scott, priest at Christ Episcopal Church, said the ordinance felt like the end of a community conversation on addressing homelessness that the city had initiated over the summer.

“When I heard that the council was putting this forward with the anti camping ordinance, all I thought was, ‘Well, I guess the community conversation is over,’” Scott said. “What I heard from the city was, ‘We’ve heard enough. No more conversations, no more dialog. No more working together. This is the path we are taking. Take it or leave it.’”

Council member Ryan Deems voted against the ordinance, and also expressed concern that there has not been enough input from the community on the issue.

“Sitting here listening to what everyone said, I just think that right now, this is a bad idea to shut off the community conversation,” he said. 

The ordinance will go into effect in early November if approved at the council’s next meeting November 7. 

Penalties listed in the ordinance escalate from a warning for the first violation, up to a $200 fine for the second violation and up to a $500 fine for a third violation. The ordinance specifies that “each day that a violation continues shall be deemed a separate offense.”

Deems applauded the measure’s lack of jail time for violators, in contrast to a similar ordinance approved by Morgantown’s city council last month that carries up to 30 days in jail for multiple violations.

Similar to Morgantown’s ordinance, Clarksburg’s proposal has a provision that requires shelter and other social services be offered to an individual and rejected before a citation can be issued.

Deems questioned the availability of services the ordinance proposes be offered before citations can occur.

“We’re talking about Nov. 8 when we’re not going to have social workers,” he said. “These programs that we’re very hopeful about are not going to be in place yet. I hope they are.”

City Manager Tiffany Fell said the city is working on every avenue available to connect people with resources, including applying to the West Virginia First Foundation for funds.

“We’re not going to have all of the answers in place, nor should we wait till all of the answers are in place, but you have a commitment from city staff,” she said. “We’re working with the prosecutor’s office. … We’re looking at trying to find a grant to do a tiny home community for transitional living after rehabilitative care, so we’re working on everything.”

Hours before the council met, the ACLU of West Virginia published an open letter to the council that warned the ordinance is likely to violate the civil rights of residents, and urged the council to reconsider its passage.