At the end of a more than four-hour meeting Tuesday night, Charlottesville City Council decided to indefinitely table a proposed ordinance introduced by Charlottesville Police Chief Michael Kochis.
The ordinance would have banned sleeping, camping, and storing any belongings in public areas. (Read the full text of the proposed ordinance here.)
The reason for proposing the ordinance, Kochis wrote in his policy briefing summary on the ordinance, was “a marked increase in quality of life complaints around locations where unhoused community members are residing.”
Violation of the ordinance would be considered a Class 4 misdemeanor, and would be punishable by a fine. But it was unclear from the text of the ordinance, the policy briefing summary, or the proposed City of Charlottesville Homeless Encampment Response Protocol how much that fine would be, or what would happen if someone could not pay that fine.
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Community members turned out in droves to oppose the ordinance, filling the City Council chambers and standing in the hallway. Dozens of community members spoke against the ordinance, calling it “cruel,” “inhumane,” “draconian,” and “criminal,” among other things. Just one speaker, a representative of Friends of Charlottesville Downtown speaking on behalf of some downtown business owners, supported the ordinance.
By tabling the ordinance, the Council does not have to put it on its next meeting agenda and does not have to set a date for a second hearing, City Attorney John Maddux told the Council during the meeting. However, someone could still bring the ordinance back before the Council in the future.
Typically, an ordinance must have two public readings — and therefore two opportunities for public comment — before the Council will vote on it. An exception is if four out of five Councilors vote to take a vote on it after the first reading. If this particular ordinance is raised again, either as Kochis presented it or in some other form, it would need to be brought in as a first reading, and the process would begin over again.
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