CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A city ordinance prohibiting nighttime camping along Crow Creek has been enacted for over a month now, and seems to be fulfilling its intended goal.
Between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m., people are prohibited from occupying any public property adjacent or contiguous to the creek between Interstate 25 and Morrie Avenue. Anyone who violates this is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment, a fine, or both. The Cheyenne City Council approved the curfew — the first of its kind for the city — at its July 24 meeting. The ordinance states that unauthorized camping along the creek, including homeless encampments, creates environmental and safety hazards for the community. The buildup of trash, human waste and other materials also damages the water quality and can cause fire hazards. Campers also pose a threat to residents and property owners in the surrounding area. The initial draft of the ordinance proposed a full ban on camping along the creek.
Since the curfew was enacted, Trenda Allen, a resident of Trails End Mobile Home Park, has seen fewer encampments around her home. The park is situated nearby the creek on Morrie Avenue and 1st Street. Many of its residents supported the ordinance, hoping it would deter homeless people from trespassing onto their property and leaving large amounts of waste in the area.
Over the past few years, Crow Creek campers have been making tents and lean-tos out of the park’s fence posts, dead trees and tarps, Allen said. The makeshift living spaces and trash were becoming a fire hazard and safety concern.
“We started to notice that there were more and more of these facilities that were building up around the creek,” she said. “It got to the point where we’re finding clothes, human excrement, beer bottles, some needles. … It was getting to be a concern.”
Allen heard about the ordinance from co-sponsor and Ward I representative Pete Laybourn, who would often come to the park and help residents collect trash along the creek. She was in favor of the idea, and now that the curfew is enacted, she is glad to see a change.
“It seems the curfew is working,” Allen said. “I don’t have any complaints about what’s going on right now. It would depend on how it goes in the future, but it seems to have alleviated some of the problems at this point.”
Eric Fountain, director of the city’s Compliance Department, said staff have also noticed a decrease in the number of encampments in the 1st Street and Morrie area.
“We haven’t seen a lot of folks living in that area anymore,” he said. “We don’t get calls [to abate] the area; we just patrol and make sure there is no violation.”
Now that the campers are gone, the city’s Compliance, Urban Forestry, Public Works, Community and Recreation and Fire Departments are working together to remove the leftover litter and debris. They have also been able to reduce fire hazards by removing dead trees and mowing overgrown grass, Fountain said.
An Expected Outcome
The curfew may have deterred homeless people from camping overnight, but it hasn’t encouraged them to seek help, said Robin Bocanegra, executive director of Comea Shelter. Instead, those being pushed out of the I-25/Morrie Avenue creek beds are setting up camp further away from the city and the shelter’s resources. Staff aren’t seeing an increase in the number of people staying overnight at the shelter. Comea’s daytime center, which opened in May at the former Stages Motel, is also seeing fewer unsheltered people stopping by for assistance, Bocanegra said.
“[The ordinance] has not changed our capacity,” she said. “It has not prompted people to come here, they just move farther out from the city, away from the resources … which we knew it would.”
Police Perspectives
Now that overnight camping along Crow Creek is illegal in the city, the Cheyenne police officers are making efforts to ward off potential violators. So far, the police department’s Crime Prevention Unit has arrested 19 people for unauthorized camping, according to Capt. David Janes. All the arrests, which were made during the unit’s Aug. 15, 21 and 27 shifts, had other charges involved, including drug-related ones. Officers arrested campers from the southwest parts of the creek, specifically near the Morandin Concrete Plant on 22nd Street, all the way to the southeast side on 1st Street and Morrie Avenue.
“They really covered the whole creek, from start to finish,” Janes said. “The first time, [officers] give a warning [to the camper]. If they run into them again, then they will charge.”
The department recently created the prevention unit to help protect residents and business owners against thefts and other crimes. The unit is currently understaffed and its officers work overtime, which is why they’ve only been out three times to enforce the curfew, Janes said. The CPD is looking to recruit two full-time officers for the unit. Once they are secured, the officers should be able to monitor the creek beds more often, he said.
