HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-08-23 Public Comment - B. Hughes - Urban Camper Ordinance VoteFrom:Breanna Hughes
To:Agenda
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Urban Camper Ordinance Vote
Date:Monday, August 7, 2023 2:41:52 PM
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Hello, all!
My name is Breanna Hughes and I have lived in the Sundance at Baxter Meadows community
for well over a year now. I understand there will be a vote tomorrow regarding anordinance addressing the urban campers. To the best of my knowledge, this ordinance would
require that campers move every five days to a different location and would also forbidcamping adjacent to residences, schools, and daycares. Since this vote is not open to the
public, I would love the opportunity to express my opinions and voice my concerns. I do notwish to list a bunch of complaints, but I do wish to list examples of what I witness on a day to
day basis.
Over the last year or so, Sundance at Baxter Meadows has become surrounded on all sides byurban campers. What started as a single road occupied with campers, has now turned into
every road leading in or out of our complex being completely full or almost full of campers,RVs, buses, tents, etc. Many nuisances have come with this influx of people: electrical lines
and other cords laying across the roads, generators and other equipment running loudly at allhours of the day, loud music, yelling, and large, overhead lights at all hours of the night.
Additionally, before the "Do Not Park on This Side" signs were posted in order for the snowplows to plow efficiently, each side of the street was full of double parked cars, trucks,
campers, RVs, etc. This left some of the roads literally impassable. If anything, only one carcould pass at a time.
The unsightly and environmentally unfriendly aspects include abandoned trash (even with the
presence of trash receptacles) and piles upon piles of abandoned furniture. One couch in thefield next to my apartment turned into five couches, pillows, chairs, desks, etc. There is also
the concern of animal and human waste. Last summer, one of the campers had a large horseand a goat. I frequently came across animal waste in the road and in the fields next to our
complex. Additionally, this prompts the question: if the animals are freely going to thebathroom in the road and the fields, where is the human waste being dumped? Most of these
RVs, trucks, tents, campers, etc. do not move, so I can only assume it is being dumped rightwhere they park. I know of 3 dogs, in addition to my own, who have stepped in or rolled in
human waste while walking or playing. Lastly, more recently, the urban campers have taken itupon themselves to landscape, leaving the scraps, branches, etc. on the side of the road or even
in the middle of the road.
With all of this said, the biggest concern I have is safety. As a young female, I am alreadyconstantly fighting an uphill battle regarding my personal safety on a daily basis. When I'm
home, I take all of the precautions and safety measures to ensure my dog and I are safe.However, I cannot control the impact these urban campers have on my comfortability and
safety in my own home and community. My concerns started last summer when I noticedsome concerningly large fires being set night after night. But, over time, things have escalated
and the police presence has increased. While walking my dog during the day and at night, I
have experienced cars driving extremely fast and doing burnouts in our private, paid parkinglot. There have been fights and frequent yelling, including a fight between two females who
verbally threatened each other with guns (guns were not present, just spoken about). I cannoteven walk down a particular street anymore because of how frequently I was approached and
sometimes even heckled by the urban campers living next to the sidewalk I used to frequentlywalk on for exercise. I take measures to make sure I am prepared to defend myself if
necessary, but, in my own home and complex, I do not want to have to worry about thisconstantly.
A new concern has come up this summer with escalating crime. I was informed last summer
of campers with active warrants for their arrest, but I did not witness police activity inreference to this last summer. However, this summer there were urban campers scaling our
apartment building and stealing power from what they thought was an empty apartment. Theyclimbed our building and plugged in their generators and other cords into the outdoor outlets.
Most frequently, a bus parked in our private parking and the police informed us the two urbancampers living in this bus had warrants for their arrest. While I was home alone, one of these
campers attempted to evade police by running into our complex and ended up being arrestedright underneath my open back door. The suspect was not compliant and the police needed to
draw weapons in order to apprehend him. If you can imagine, this could have gone horriblywrong and really scared me.
I encourage you to look at my concerns from the viewpoint of a young female or even as the
parents, grandparents, etc. of young females. Please consider if you would want your daughter,granddaughter, niece, wife, etc. to be constantly exposed to this. I am confined now to certain
limits in my complex at this point to preserve my safety. I don't even feel comfortable simplywalking my dog alone anymore.
I pay a large portion of my hard earned money to live here and I want so badly to be able to
say that our complex is clean and safe. However, at this point, the urban campers have becomeso abundant and invasive that I can no longer confidently say that.
With all of this said, I do not want to put any label on the entirety of urban campers. A very
small portion are peaceful, clean, and keep to themselves. However, the problem has becomeoverwhelming and overbearing. The urban campers around Sundance are encroaching on our
private property that we pay to live in, park at, and maintain. The roads that lead to and fromour complex cannot be a permanent residence for them. I do not know what the long-term
answers and logistics are to helping these people find solutions, but I do know that while thecity makes this plan, tax-paying, law-abiding Montana residences should not have to suffer as
a result. We respect our neighbors in this Sundance community and the land that we live onand the urban campers should be held to the same standard. If that means they will be required
to move every 5 days and will not be able to reside next to residences like ours, then I believethat is a great start to finding a successful compromise for everyone.
Thank you so much for your time and allowing me this platform to voice my opinion.
Sincerely,
Breanna Hughes