Guelph rolls out public spaces bylaw in a 'respectful way,' as encampment grows downtown
New bylaw went into effect Oct. 1 and manages encampments in public areas and by waterways
Despite a new bylaw that limits where tents can be erected in Guelph, a homeless encampment in the heart of downtown is seemingly growing.
"Definitely it's grown," said Barb Minett, co-owner and co-founder of The Bookshelf bookstore and cinema which is located less than 100 metres from the encampment in St. George's Square.
"Businesses are suffering. The people in the square are suffering. It's so complicated," Minett told CBC News Wednesday, more than a week after the bylaw was instituted.
The Public Space Use bylaw was discussed and approved during an August city council meeting in a "pretty strong" 10-3 vote, Guelph's Mayor Cam Guthrie said at the time. It was finalized a month ago and came into effect on Oct. 1.
The new bylaw aims to manage encampments in public areas and by waterways within the city.
Tents will be allowed in specific areas, but they will be prohibited along rivers, near schools and day cares, and from busy public spaces like St. George's Square.
Minett was a delegate at the August council meeting because she says as a business owner, the effect of the encampment has been "fairly devastating" to her bottom line.
"We have quite a few elderly customers and they're not coming downtown anymore," she said, adding "it's an issue we should all be involved in because it's our community."
Guelph police spokesperson Scott Tracey confirmed to CBC News in an email that the "number of tents appears to have recently increased" in the square. It's unclear if the increase is in response to the new bylaw.
Tracey deferred questions about the status of the bylaw and possible enforcement to the city.
For its part, the city says when it comes to bylaw enforcement, it is looking to strike a "balance" between supporting businesses and being respectful of the people living in the tents, said Colleen Clack-Bush, deputy CAO of public services for the city.
"The bylaw only came into effect Oct. 1 and we want to make sure that we're rolling it out in a respectful way and also making sure that we are properly documenting everything that we're doing," Clack-Bush told CBC Radio's The Morning Edition host Craig Norris.
Clack-Bush said she recognizes that some of the behaviour in the encampment downtown is "problematic" and is having a negative impact on businesses in the area. Mayor Cam Guthrie has been vocal on social media about open drug use at the downtown encampment and in the city's parks.
Back in September, police arrested a couple for having sex in public near Wyndham St. N. and Quebec St. in the early evening. A video of the incident was posted to social media.
Clack-Bush said these first couple of weeks are about information gathering and education, which includes identifying potential accessibility issues, offering information about supports and clearly identifying where people can relocate.
The city will start issuing orders to leave before the end of the month, but ideally, Clack-Bush said, everyone will leave voluntarily.
"But just to be clear, the notices in the orders are about the structures, not about the individual," Clack-Bush explained.
"This isn't about saying where individuals are allowed to be, it's simply about where those structures are permitted to be."
There are several public spaces that have been specially designated to allow tents and other temporary structures to be erected.
An interactive map with the locations is available online. It shows the spots where tents are not allowed, where tents are permitted at night but not during the day, and finally it shows the spaces that are fully permissible for tents at any time of the day or night.
LISTEN | City of Guelph's deputy CAO of public services Colleen Clack-Bush:
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With files from Patricia Holmes