It shall be unlawful for any person to be or remain in any of
the public parks of the City during prohibited hours, except employees
of the City on official duty, those persons who are participating
in or attending those functions permitted by other sections or chapters
of this code, to the extent of such participation or attendance and
the reasonable time necessary to leave such functions, and those persons
who have obtained a permit from the City Manager for being or remaining
in the public parks during otherwise prohibited hours. Prohibited
hours for public parks of the City shall be as set forth by resolution
of the City Council.
(Code 1994 § 26-51; Code 1965 §§ 19-76, 20-11)
(a) The City Council of the City of Grand Junction hereby establishes
the following classifications and hours of prohibited park use for
each classification:
(1) 11:00 p.m. – 5:00 a.m.: Community, regional and neighborhood
parks with formal programmable sports facilities.
(2) 10:00 p.m. – 5:00 a.m.: Neighborhood and mini parks.
(3) 10:00 p.m. – 5:00 a.m.: Open space and undeveloped parks
and properties.
(4) 10:00 p.m. – 5:00 a.m.: Cemeteries.
(5) 10:00 p.m. – 5:00 a.m.: School IGA sites (except during
school hours).
(b) The City Council of the City of Grand Junction hereby authorizes and directs the City Manager to classify each City park pursuant to the classifications in subsections
(a)(1) through
(5) of this section at the time of acquisition or development, when the principal use or function of the park changes, or as needed to address vandalism or similar operational concerns. The City Manager may defer any such classification decision to the City Council as he deems necessary.
(c) The City Manager is hereby delegated the power and duty to amend
the classification system as he deems necessary from time to time,
by administrative regulation. The City Manager may defer any changes
to the classification system to the City Council as he deems necessary.
(d) “Community,” “regional,” “neighborhood,”
“mini” parks are defined or distinguished by reference
to the current City-adopted Parks Master Plan.
(e) All school IGA sites shall be closed to the public during school
hours unless attendance is approved for the public at school related
activities and/or activities approved by the Mesa County Valley School
District that are held on the premises of such site(s).
(f) This section shall be in full force and effect upon its adoption;
however, no criminal charges shall be issued or filed based on any
changes from prior practices until adequate notice is posted on the
park, open space, cemetery or other site.
(Ord. 4832, 2-20-19; Res. 103-03, 11-5-03)
No person shall use any public park for business purposes, including
but not limited to food and other concessions, and no business of
any kind shall be carried on except by a permit from the City Manager.
(Code 1994 § 26-52; Code 1965 § 20-13)
The building of fires, the posting of any bills or advertisements,
or painting or making any advertisements, names, pictures, characters
or signs of any description on any object or thing whatsoever within
or connected with any City park is hereby prohibited, except that
the City Manager may permit posting or painting of advertisements
under such terms and conditions as the City Manager shall prescribe.
(Code 1994 § 26-53; Code 1965 § 20-17)
(a) The City Manager may grant a permit to any responsible person for
permission to use the parks and the facilities therein for public
entertainment, the sale of food or other refreshments, ball games
or any other athletic games or sports and public exhibitions; provided,
that the permittee shall agree to obey and conform to all rules and
regulations made by the City Manager in reference to the care, management
and government of City parks.
(b) Charges for the use of all public property belonging to the City,
including but not limited to parks and recreation facilities, shall
be established from time to time by the City Council by resolution.
(c) Permission may be granted by the City Manager to erect any temporary
buildings or tents for exhibition or other purposes in the parks,
and any buildings or tents so erected shall be removed from the park
by the owner of such buildings or tents within five days after the
close of such exhibition, fair or entertainment. Upon the failure
of such owner to remove such buildings or tents within such five-day
period, every such building or tent shall be and remain the property
of the City.
(Code 1994 § 26-54; Code 1965 §§ 20-27 –
20-29)
For the purpose of this title the following terms, phrases,
words and their derivations shall have the meaning provided herein:
“Available overnight shelter”
means a public or private facility, with all necessary or
required City occupancy approvals, open to a person(s) or a family
experiencing homelessness with an available overnight space to house
the person(s) or family at no charge or a nominal charge (presumptively
$5.00 or less per person). Overnight shelter space shall be considered
available if the person(s) is not permitted to use otherwise available
overnight shelter space due to the person’s voluntary actions,
including, but not limited to, intoxication, drug use, unruly behavior,
or violation of shelter rules.
“Encampment”
means any place where bedding, sleeping bag(s) or other things
used for bedding purposes, or any stove or fire is placed, established
or maintained for the purpose of maintaining a place to stay or sleep,
whether or not such place incorporates the use of any tent, lean-to,
shack, or any other cover, structure or elements of a structure or
any vehicle or part thereof. Ordinary use of a park such as resting
or sleeping in a park during normal park hours, picnicking on a blanket
or using parks for other lawful uses does not constitute encampment.
“Overnight use”
means the use of public lands and/or trails pursuant to a
permit issued by the City Manager or his designee for an event/programming
by and through the City Parks Department for an activity authorized
to be conducted overnight.
“Parking strip”
means the area between a curb, or a place where a curb would
be located if improvements were installed, and where a sidewalk is
located or would be installed.
“Personal property”
means any tangible item reasonably recognizable as belonging
to a person and having reasonably apparent utility or monetary value.
“Public property”
means any real property, building or structure owned, used
or leased by the City or any department thereof and/or the Downtown
Development Authority (DDA) including, but not limited to, any sidewalk,
street, parking strip, alley, lane, public right-of-way, park, open
space, breezeway, bench, shade shelter, restroom, playground and other
similar property.
“Reasonable notice”
means notice reasonably calculated under all the circumstances
to apprise a person that camping is prohibited at a particular location
and, where personal property is deposited, affording the person no
less than 24 hours to gather his/her personal property and depart.
(Ord. 5071, 5-18-22; Ord. 4833, 4-17-19)
Sleeping on a public sidewalk, street, parking strip, alley,
lane or public right-of-way or in any publicly used ingress or egress
to public property is unsafe as it may obstruct pedestrian and/or
vehicular traffic and may place the person sleeping and/or the public
in danger of harm. Therefore, except as may be otherwise expressly
authorized by the City:
(a) No person may sleep on any public sidewalk, street, parking strip,
alley, lane, breezeway or public right-of-way.
(b) No person may sleep in any publicly used ingress or egress to public
property.
(c) A violation of this section after a request to cease and desist shall
be unlawful and shall give rise to any remedy provided by law.
(Ord. 5071, 5-18-22; Ord. 4833, 4-17-19)
No person may camp in or upon any public property, nor any property
owned by other governmental entities that have posted notice prohibiting
camping, unless:
(a) The person has the authorization of the owner of the property to
camp at that location; or
(b) An overnight use is specifically authorized by the issuance of a
use permit in accordance with Parks Department regulations; or
(c) Camping is otherwise specifically authorized by GJMC; or
(d) The camper(s) is(are) on public property other than a sidewalk, street,
parking strip, alleyway, lane, breezeway or public right-of-way, and
there is no available overnight shelter; or
(e) Camping is necessary after the formal declaration of an emergency
in accordance with City Charter or a declaration of the Governor.
(Ord. 5071, 5-18-22; Ord. 4833, 4-17-19)
Upon discovery of an encampment(s) on public property, removal
of the encampment by the City and/or its authorized agent(s) may occur
if:
(a) After reasonable notice, the person(s) fails or refuses to remove
his/her personal property from the location of the encampment(s);
and
(b) Personal property appears to be abandoned; or there is reasonable
suspicion for law enforcement officers to believe that illegal activity(ies)
other than camping are occurring at the encampment; or
(c) There is imminent danger to human life, health or safety, including,
but not limited to, possible contamination of private or public property
by unsanitary and/or hazardous conditions and/or materials.
(Ord. 5071, 5-18-22; Ord. 4833, 4-17-19)
Upon removal of an encampment, all debris, including items having no reasonably apparent utility or monetary value and items in an unsanitary condition, may be immediately discarded. All other personal property shall be gathered, retained, and released, all in accordance with the reasonable notice being provided to the property owner. Unclaimed property may be disposed in accordance with GJMC §
2.44.020 et seq.
(Ord. 5071, 5-18-22; Ord. 4833, 4-17-19)
By enacting this title, it is neither the City’s intent
to criminalize homelessness nor violate a homeless person’s
constitutional rights. Likewise, the City does not propose to prohibit
the ordinary use of the parks such as resting or sleeping in a park
during normal park hours, picnicking on a blanket or using parks or
other public property for lawful uses. Enforcement of this title shall
be undertaken to avoid such results.
Upon conviction for a violation of this title, in addition to
any other factors deemed appropriate by the prosecutor and the Court,
the Court shall consider in mitigation whether or not the person immediately
removed all personal property and litter, including, but not limited
to, bottles, cans and garbage, from the encampment after being informed
the camping was in violation of the law.
(Ord. 5071, 5-18-22; Ord. 4833, 4-17-19)
This title applies to public property owned by the City that
is located outside the City’s municipal limits.
(Ord. 5071, 5-18-22; Ord. 4833, 4-17-19)