Encampment Protocol Review
On November 12, 2024, Town Council adopted a new Parks By-law and Encampment Response Protocol following an extensive community consultation. This protocol establishes sensitive use areas where encampments are not permitted, and rules regarding size and cleanliness that must be followed for encampments on public land outside of the sensitive use areas.
Council will be reviewing the Parks By-law and Encampment Protocol at the end of the summer, and is looking for community input on how the Town’s implementation of this by-law can be improved.
To share your input, please complete the Parks By-law and Encampment Protocol Survey available below. The survey will be open for feedback until August 6, 2025.
Comments
Message to Town Hall:
That we need to prevent encampments by focusing all resources/energies (financial and human) on providing housing solutions. Encampments are not good for the people who use them, and they are not good for communities. All they do is worsen the divide between vulnerable people in communities and their fellow community members. They will be a constant eyesore and frustration that will grow, no matter what we do to limit the size and scope - and they will never replace dignified housing solutions.
We need to channel all our energy and innovation into a single-pronged, non-negotiable "housing first" strategy. We must engage all the compassionate responders in the community - agencies, churches, individuals - and establish adequate short-term housing. Any energy spent on administering encampments, or creating infrastructure to support them will simply perpetuate them. They will grow and get out of control in spite of any attempt to keep them in a box or buffer zone.
Why can't there be an encampment aera in the area behind the complex where Jimmi’s Italian is. Close to stores ,away from parks,schools and downtown
Move them. There is enough bending by taxpayers to support and give. The sad reality is this. The park brings visitors which means helping the economy by visiting shops and restaurants. I for one would avoid the park right now. That means I will send my money elsewhere. I'm sorry if this hurts people's feelings but I do not want to be jabbed by a dirty discarded needle or step in someone's body fluids. Gross but it's a reality. As adults we stop our children from making a mess. Kingston just had murders in an encampment. Who's to say someone walking through the park won't get stabbed or assaulted by someone out of it on drugs. That park is a very beautiful place to go and to let this be overrun is a shame. You give an inch and some expect a mile.
They all didn't choose to be homeless please allow the to stay at the fair ground
The council should lead by example and have these tents placed in directly in front of the government buildings and the townhall doors.
They should be viewable by you any time you are working as a sign that you are committed to solving this and are willing to take the brunt of this head on until you can.
I have been following the various meetings and suggestions, since the start, and believed that the proposed bylaw, was a viable option. Last week, I viewed a newscast on Global, however that showed a more favourable opt, ion, than what was suggested here. Whereas, the Napanee town clerk is showing a map that clearly still allows encampments in our local parks, the community featured on Global has banned them from these parks, and give them a designated public property to live on. I believe the municipality was Peterborough area, and they too consulted their legal eagles, and it is perfectly acceptable to do this as long as another public property is designated. So if we are legal able to remove them from our parks, what is council waiting for????
There is a need for more transitional housing and better communication with the powers to be at social services in Napanee
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