Morgantown council to reconsider camping ban following successful petition

Community members spoke about a proposed public camping ban during a more than six-hour Morgantown City Council meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Morgantown, W.Va. (Morgantown City Council livestream screenshot)

A law that imposes fines and jail time on homeless people who camp on Morgantown's streets will go before city council for reconsideration, city officials say.

After the city passed the camping ban in September, the Morgantown Coalition for Housing Action filed a petition to have it repealed or put it on the ballot during a city election.

According to the city charter, referendum petitions must include signatures of at least 10% of the total number of voters registered during the last regular city election, which was 1,310, according to the city.

The group initially submitted more than 2,000 signatures, but only 956 were considered valid, a city spokesman said in an Oct. 23 news release

The organization filed to amend the petition, which gave it 10 more days to collect signatures. The organization said in a Facebook post Tuesday that the city clerk had informed them that the petition was certified. The city confirmed the certification in a news release Tuesday.

According to the city charter, city council will reconsider the ban. If council does not repeal it, voters will decide whether to keep or reject the ordinance during a city election.

"This is a win for democracy and a win for the entire city as this harmful ban has been rejected by more registered voters than any council member received in their last election ," the Morgantown Coalition for Housing Action said in a statement posted to its Facebook Tuesday evening.

The ordinance prohibits camping on any public property — including streets, parks and trails — and also prohibits storing personal property in public areas. Second and third violations of the law are punishable by fines of $200 and $300 and/or 30 days in jail, respectively. Morgantown is one of three West Virginia cities to pass a camping ban following a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court this summer that a similar ban in Grants Pass, Oregon does not violate the constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Clarksburg and have also passed camping bans.

Morgantown's ordinance is not currently in effect.

In an emailed statement, Councilwoman Louise Michael, who originally proposed the camping ban, said she was disappointed with the petition, saying that the law is a "tool to get people to the right resources and to enhance the safety of our communities."

"To let this kind of lifestyle exist is a disservice to the people living in it and all of our responsible tax paying citizens and businesses," Michael said in the statement. "How is this safe for anyone, especially if most of the people living outside are falling deeper and deeper into addiction while living in litter polluted areas with no accountability for their actions?"

Councilman Dave Harshbarger, who also supported the ban, said Michael's statement "very much aligns" with his thoughts on the petition.

Opponents of the camping ban , including homeless services providers, said the city does not have enough emergency shelter beds available to house all the people who may be affected by the ban.

Councilman Brian Butcher, a homeless services provider, said the petition should be a message to council that voters are dissatisfied by the process by which the ordinance was adopted.

"I think the ordinance was poorly constructed and cruel in the first place but I'm sure that the council will not choose to repeal it and therefore it will be in the hands of the voters at the next election," he wrote in a text message.

The certificate of sufficiency will be presented to council at its next meeting, planned for Wednesday, Nov. 20. The next city election will be in April 2025.