TUSTIN : New Ordinance Would Outlaw Camping on Public Property

The City Council has granted preliminary approval for an ordinance that would outlaw camping on public property.

The council voted unanimously on Monday to prohibit erecting tents or other temporary living structures on public property or storing personal property in public areas.

The ordinance is similar to one adopted by Santa Ana to keep the homeless from living in parks, on sidewalks and in other public areas, said Christine Shingleton, Tustin’s assistant city manager.

Tustin officials had considered such an ordinance a year ago but delayed a decision pending the outcome of legal challenges brought against the city of Santa Ana by advocates for the homeless. Those challenges were recently rejected, though, and the law upheld as constitutional, Shingleton said.

The Tustin ordinance is intended as a preventive measure, Shingleton said, rather than to solve an existing problem.

“We’re adjacent to Santa Ana, and we want to be sure to protect our parks and the safety of the city. We want to keep them in attractive and intact condition for those who want to use them,” she said.

But a spokeswoman for Westminster-based Shelter for the Homeless said she was disappointed that another city would deny displaced people places to sleep without providing alternatives.

Barbara Jean, director of communications for the advocacy group, said if city officials “don’t want the homeless in the visual purview, we must open up buildings for them to stay in.”

The law as written would permit police to charge violators with an infraction--similar to a parking ticket--or a misdemeanor, which carries a penalty of up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

The law will be considered for formal adoption July 17 and would go into effect 30 days after that, Shingleton said.