Deschutes County commissioners adopt policy to remove unsafe campsites on county-owned property

(Update: Adding video, unanimous approval, commissioner, other comments; other commission actions Wednesday)

County also scales back courthouse expansion plans, other actions on busy agenda

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Seeking to address public safety and health concerns, Deschutes County commissioners unanimously adopted a new policy Wednesday that will allow the removal in serious, specific cases of unsafe homeless campsites on county-owned property.

In presenting the policy to commissioners, Christie Bollinger with the county's Property Management department said the policy was not crafted with the intent to sweep out homeless camps. It’s meant to pinpoint and address specific campsites that pose major threats.

The policy outlines the process to remove personal property from a camp on county-owned property “when an imminent or immediate threat to public health and/or safety has been identified,” such as wildfire, public health “and/or illegal activities such as known illicit drug use, stolen property or violence.”

Commissioners directed creation of a workgroup last year to draft such a policy, under state statutes, to “recognize the social nature of the problem of homeless individuals camping on public property,” and “ensure the most humane treatment for removal of homeless individuals from camping sites on public property,” according to the issue summary before commissioners.

After voting in favor of the policy, Commissioner Patti Adair said, “Be mindful that  there’s over 250,000 people that live in Deschutes County, and when we’re having a lot of fires -- and we were having a lot of fires last year -- it's just not going to be a pretty picture.” 

Establishing a balance between help for vulnerable people in the community and the need for broader safety measures has proven to be a challenge in the county.

Bend and Deschutes County's Houseless Response Director Cheyenne Purrington said the policy is one tool among others that helps to address both needs.

“My hope is that it is situated alongside programmatic interventions that support the intensive needs of individuals living in these encampments," she said.

The county will be encouraging people to leave the area east of 17th street to facilitate a land exchange this spring. 

But the new policy may also apply in that particular encampment.

Purrington said, “There are significant concerns both around criminal behavior, fire risk, significant incidents around violence, gun use."

According to reports, Deschutes County will hire contractors to remove "unsafe" personal property from county-owned land. The property will be stored for 30 days, as near the removal sites as practical.

One key example that sparked concern is the 39-acre Juniper Ridge Fire caused by a motor home back in August of 2020 that prompted evacuations. 

Here is the draft document of the proposed administrative policy:

On a busy Wednesday agenda, county commissioners also:

-Approved $75,000 for assisting with operations of the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce.

-Agreed to a city of Sisters request to reserve $500,000 in federal ARPA funds for a future Sisters affordable housing project.

-Held a public hearing and agreed to give ODOT a nighttime noise variant for construction work from 10 p.m.-7 a.m. on the Highway 20 project between Cooley Road in Bend and Tumalo, including a new roundabout, despite neighbor concerns, deciding the project is too important to save lives and work is needed at a time of day with less traffic

-Heard much public testimony at a hearing and agreed to an update to 30-year-old wildlife inventory (mule deer and elk) back on county planners’ work plan, having delayed it in a 2-1 vote (Phil Chang opposed) last year to complete rules for psilocybin service centers in the rural county). They also put new rules for in-conduit hydroelectric generation on piped canals back on the work plan.

-Agreed to hear at a Feb. 1 hearing Thornburgh Resort’s appeal of a hearings officer’s denial of their latest modification request.

-Changed course from several weeks ago and voted to proceed with a three-floor, not four-floor expansion of the county courthouse, dropping a fourth-floor “shell” space for future use due to rising costs and interest rates, among other factors. That trims the project from $44.5 million to $44 million, a figure to be refined in further preparation for the project, with an estimated completion by mid-2025.

-Rejected a proposal from Donna Owens to submit Worrell Wayside Park as a possible protected city “Upland Area of Special Interest,” but said they’d be open to discussions if Owens – newly appointed to the Bend Park and Rec Board – or others wanted to propose the park’s acquisition by BPRD, or a trade.

-Agreed to seek a $3.25 million FEMA grant that would pay for a 200,000 gallon water storage and heat-activated sprinkler system to protect the High Desert Museum and its campus, in the event of a wildfire.