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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCM Temporary Camping Prohibition at City Hall____________________________________________________________________________________ FOR CITY CLERK ONLY Council Meeting: January 20, 2026 Disposition: Resolution 15494 Agenda Item No: 2.b Meeting Date: January 20th, 2026 SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT Department: City Manager Prepared by: Daniel Cooperman, Community Services Div. Director City Manager Approval: ______________ TOPIC: TEMPORARY CAMPING PROHIBITION AT CITY HALL SUBJECT: RESOLUTION PROHIBITING CAMPING AT OR AROUND CITY HALL (APN 011-203- 12) FROM JANUARY 21, 2026, THROUGH JULY 21, 2026: CEQA DETERMINATION: EXEMPT PURSUANT TO CEQA GUIDELINES 15061(B)(3); 15307, 15308 RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the City Council adopt a resolution prohibiting camping at or around City Hall from January 21, 2026, through July 21, 2026. The temporary prohibition of camping is necessary to conduct rodent/pest mitigation and scheduled building exterior maintenance. BACKGROUND: The City of San Rafael owns and operates a range of public facilities, including City Hall, the Public Safety Center, libraries, community centers, parks, and other municipal properties, which are intended to serve the public for governmental operations, civic engagement, recreation, and community services. Maintaining these facilities as safe, accessible, and functional spaces for all members of the community is a core responsibility of the City. Accordingly, San Rafael Municipal Code (SRMC) Section 19.50.030 prohibits camping at all times on certain public properties, including public facilities. SRMC 19.50.040 regulates the time, place and manner of camping on other public property. SRMC 19.50.030.B allows the City Council to adopt a resolution to prohibit camping on any public property in the City. In recent years, the City, like many jurisdictions throughout California, has experienced an increase in unsheltered homelessness, resulting in camping activity directly adjacent to City Hall. While the City has worked with the County of Marin to expand outreach, shelter options, and supportive services, camping at City Hall has raised concerns about public health and safety, accessibility, sanitation, and operational impacts. Historically, the City has had 2 to 3 individuals camping directly adjacent to the City Hall building. The population did not fluctuate, and the individuals maintained a clean camping area and did not interfere SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT / Page: 2 with any City business or visitors at City Hall. The outside trash receptacles and nearby porta potty were sufficient to ensure that the camp sites were maintained in a clean and safe manner. There has never been camping on the lawn adjacent to City Hall. Camping is not allowed at the Carnegie Hall Library at 1100 E Street (APN 011-203-01) because it is across the street from the preschool at 1510 5th Avenue (APN 011-201-10) and within 250 feet of Marin Academy’s playing fields (APN 011-161-13). ANALYSIS: In recent weeks the population of individuals camping around City Hall has more than quadrupled in size, as individuals new to San Rafael have established campsites on the property. The City Hall facilities cannot accommodate the growth in population of individuals camping around City Hall. Accordingly, trash, urine and rotten food overwhelm the campsite at City Hall. The odor emanating from the campsite can be overwhelming at times. The current campsite condition has attracted rodents and pests. To ensure the health and safety of all visitors to City Hall, including the individuals camping around City Hall, and City officials and employees, the City needs to take action to remediate the pest and rodent situation. The size of the unsheltered population at City Hall limits access to the building for individuals with mobility needs in addition to being located in areas where pest and rodent remediation activities needs to occur. During the pest and rodent remediation activities, the area surrounding City Hall must be fully cleared and remain unoccupied for a minimum of two months (Attachment 2). In addition, the size of the encampment at City Hall has grown to the point where it is disrupting business at City Hall. Visitors to City Hall need to walk between tents to access City Hall through its front doors. Previously, the encampment was contained off to side of the front doors. Some visitors feel apprehensive by walking so close to a tent. Disruption from the encampment has resulted in at least 30 calls for service to the San Rafael Police Department in the month of December 2025 alone to address the disruption. City Hall cannot accommodate an encampment of this size while conducting the people’s business as usual. In addition to the pest and rodent remediation, there is other planned work that would necessitate temporary closure of the City Hall campsite. The Fiscal Year 2025-26 through 2027-28 Capital Improvement Program includes Project BF26-04 City Hall Building Envelop Maintenance Upgrades. This project will provide essential building envelope maintenance to preserve the structure’s integrity, ensure safety for occupants and visitors, and extend the building’s useful life. Planned work includes sealing, waterproofing, exterior repairs, and other improvements to prevent weather-related deterioration and support the continued safe operations. This work is anticipated to start later this Spring. Given the time necessary to complete comprehensive rodent and pest control around City Hall and the planned capital improvement project, Staff are recommending the City Council adopt a temporary prohibition of camping around City Hall effective at 12:00 pm on January 21, 2026, through July 21, 2026. Pursuant to San Rafael Municipal Code Section 19.50.050(C), the City may require individuals in camping in prohibited areas to move immediately. In anticipation of this item, City Staff have conducted outreach to the impacted individuals to make them aware that they may need to relocate elsewhere by 12:00 pm on January 21, 2026, if the City Council acts to temporarily prohibit camping. The proposed action is not intended to criminalize homelessness or replace the City’s ongoing efforts to address unsheltered homelessness. Indeed, the City has previously had to relocate individuals due to maintenance around City Hall. The City continues to invest in outreach, shelter capacity, interim housing, SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT / Page: 3 and supportive services, and staff will continue to prioritize engagement and referrals to available resources. For example, last year the City entered into a Grant Agreement with the County of Marin to facilitate the purchase of 350 Merrydale Road and establishment of the County’s first interim shelter and a future affordable housing project. The proposed interim shelter will provide 65 cabins for individuals experiencing homelessness and will connect them to housing based case management and other social services on site. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: Staff finds that the proposed approval of this resolution is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under the “common sense” exemption because it does not involve the construction or alteration of facilities and has no potential for resulting in direct or indirect significant effect on the environment, as described in CEQA Guidelines section 15061(b)(3). Additionally, the proposed action is intended to regulate and limit the secondary impacts associated with unhoused persons living in locations likely to cause damage to environmental resources, and to prohibit discharges of untreated wastewater and other pollutants, and is therefore exempt under Cal. Code of Regs, tit, 14,§ 15307, as an action to protect natural resources and under Cal. Code Regs, tit. 14, § 15308, as an action for protection of the environment. COMMUNITY OUTREACH: For the past several weeks, City staff have been conducting outreach to unhoused community members at City Hall, offering support services and connecting individuals with any available shelter and housing resources. FISCAL IMPACT: There is no fiscal impact associated with the adoption of this Order. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Staff recommends that the City Council adopt a resolution prohibiting camping at or around City Hall from January 21, 2026, through July 21, 2026. The temporary prohibition of camping is necessary to conduct rodent/pest mitigation and scheduled building exterior maintenance. ATTACHMENTS: 1. Resolution 2. Notice of Pest Control Services RESOLUTION NO. 15494 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL PROHBITING CAMPING AT CITY HALL (APN 011-203-12) FROM JANUARY 21, 2026 THROUGH JULY 21, 2026 WHEREAS, the City of San Rafael owns and operates public facilities, including City Hall, for governmental operations, civic engagement, and the delivery of public services, and has a responsibility to maintain these facilities as safe, accessible, and functional spaces for the community; and WHEREAS, San Rafael Municipal Code (SRMC) Section 19.50.030 prohibits camping at all times on certain public properties, including public facilities; and WHEREAS, Section 19.50.030(B) of SRMC authorizes the City Council to absolutely prohibit camping, or to adopt time, place, or manner conditions on camping, at any time in or on one or more public properties or portions thereof; and WHEREAS, camping at City Hall has resulted in conditions that raise public health and safety concerns, including but not limited to the accumulation of trash, food waste, and human waste, which have contributed to rodent and pest activity on the property; and WHEREAS, City staff have determined that rodent and pest mitigation activities are now necessary to protect the health and safety of individuals camping at City Hall, City employees, and members of the public, and that such work cannot be safely or effectively conducted while camping continues on the property; and WHEREAS, the current size of the encampment at City Hall has also resulted in disruption to City Hall; and WHEREAS, The Fiscal Year 2025-26 through 2027-28 Capital Improvement Program includes Project BF26-04 City Hall Building Envelop Maintenance Upgrades, which is scheduled for Spring 2026 and requires the encampment to be removed to have full access to the building; and WHEREAS, given the time necessary to complete the comprehensive rodent and pest control around City Hall and the planned capital improvement project, a camping prohibition at City Hall for six months is required to complete these activities; and WHEREAS, the City Council finds that this action is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15061(b)(3) (common sense exemption), and sections 15307 and 15308 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations, as actions taken to protect natural resources and the environment. NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, based on the staff report and presentation and public comment received, the City Council hereby finds that the foregoing recitals are true and correct and order camping to be prohibited on or at City Hall, which includes all of APN 011 -203-12, from 12:00 pm on January 21, 2026, through July 21, 2026, 11:59 p.m. and authorizes the City Manager to take action to effectuate this prohibition, including but not limited, to clearing the existing campsite. I, LINDSAY LARA, Clerk of the City of San Rafael, hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was duly and regularly introduced and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council of said City on the 20th day of January 2026, by the following vote, to wit: AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Bushey, Hill, Kertz, Llorens Gulati & Mayor Kate NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None Lindsay Lara, City Clerk 304 Sutton Place, Santa Rosa, CA 95401 Sonoma: (707) 573-5899 Marin: (415) 257-8987 PR: 7519 ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Prepared for: City of San Rafael Service Address: 1400 5th Ave. San Rafael 94901 We Care Pest Solutions advises that the exterior of 1400 5th Ave, San Rafael Ca will need to be restricted due to the application of pesticides for the treatment of roach and ant activity, in addition to the placement of rodent trapping devices. For safety and compliance purposes, no persons may be present within the treatment area during this time. We respectfully request that the area be fully cleared and remain unoccupied for a minimum of two months. Human and pet access will be at the rear of the building. City Of San Rafael will be responsible for posting signage.