Homelessness in Spokane Valley parks and public spaces is about to come with tougher penalties.

The Spokane Valley City Council is set to adopt new policies Tuesday that would make it a misdemeanor to be in a park after hours, while also making it easier for law enforcement officers to write tickets for camping in public spaces.

It is a misdemeanor to be in a Spokane Valley park outside of summer hours of 6:00am to 9:00pm, or 7:00pm in the winter. The same law, first passed in 2003, already made it a misdemeanor to camp in a park or city property. Proposed changes coming before council on Tuesday would expand the definition of camping, which currently requires camping equipment to be used to apply.

The vote comes after the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn the landmark case Martin v. Boise, which prevented cities from enforcing camping bans against homeless people if there weren’t enough beds available.

Now that those laws are no longer considered cruel and unusual punishments, cities across the country are adopting new camping and homeless statutes, or revising those on the books.

Most of the line changes to the existing code eliminate safeguards Spokane Valley put in place after the 2018 Boise decision, which included ensuring they are connected to local resources and support services, according to a draft ordinance.

If the council approves the ordinance, as it has indicated it is likely to do, camping would be defined as sleeping in a park or public space after business hours or after sunset, regardless of the use of tents, sleeping bags or lawn chairs.

The proposed changes also include expressly allowing law enforcement officers to drive their vehicles on park land and a tightening of metal detecting rules in parks to ensure minimal excavation, according to the draft.

City Attorney Kelly Konkright told the council at a public hearing last week that the ordinance is intended to provide another tool for law enforcement “dealing with people who are in parks after hours and using city property in a way that which the city identified as inappropriate. .”

At the same meeting, Councilwoman Jessica Yaeger asked Konkright to confirm her interpretation that the ordinance is not just about the homeless.

“It’s not necessarily aimed at the homeless, it applies to anyone who would be sleeping in parks after hours,” Konkright said. “Now it also applies to people camping on public property, whether it’s a city park or not. So for the parking lot here at City Hall, if someone is camping in the parking lot at City Hall, it’s a misdemeanor.”

Councilman Al Merkel said he supports the ordinance, but would like to see the council do more to address homelessness in the city now that the Supreme Court ruling has “taken the gloves off.”

One of his proposals would be for homeless people to prove residency to receive city services, Merkel said in a news release.

Another would be for the city to establish a mobile enforcement and adjudication team to go around the city to issue violations and hear cases on the spot.

“I don’t know what limits us anymore,” Merkel said. “Right now, we don’t have a Supreme Court or an Appeals Court sitting on us to limit our ability to resolve the situation.”

City Manager John Hohman took shade at Merkel’s rhetoric, responding that the councilman, as the city’s representative on the regional opioid reduction board, should be aware of how multifaceted homelessness is and how difficult it can be. be addressed, given that the city does not have infinite resources.

“We don’t want to be seen as a jurisdiction that bans homelessness, what we want is to be seen as one that enforces our regulations but still helps people move into treatment and options, move into different sources of housing and to get off the street,” Hohman said. “That’s what we want, for these individuals to be functioning members of society, and it’s a multi-layered issue.”

The City Council will vote on enshrining the ordinance into law at its regular meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday.