By Samantha Pak

spak@redmond-reporter.com

Redmond City Council will continue to examine the issues of homeless encampments and marijuana retail business zoning at its upcoming study session on Tuesday.

In addition to updated staff reports, council members also received a number of public comments at this week’s business meeting as more than a dozen people signed up to speak during the “Items from the Audience” portion.

A CHANGE IN POLICIES

As previously reported, council is looking at a number of possible policy changes regarding permits for homeless encampments.

Those policy changes include extending permits from 120-day stays to 180 days, allowing an encampment to stay on a site for up to five times in five years (with six months between stays), reducing permit costs from about $2,600 to $1,000 and grandfathering current permits to adopt these policies if they are approved by council.

IN SUPPORT OF THE CHANGES

Commenters at Tuesday’s meeting fell on both sides of the debate — those who supported the changes as well as those who had concerns.

One man who spoke in support of the policy changes is a member of St. Jude Catholic Church — one of the two churches that regularly host encampments (Redwood Family Church is the other church) — said he supports having one permit to cover multiple stays. He explained that having to pay for a permit each time is a strain on the church’s resources. In addition, church resources become further strained as it costs the church about $3,000 a month to host an encampment to cover the utilities and other costs.

Another man commended the churches that have hosted the encampments, as well as Redmond United Methodist Church (RUMC) for their work with the homeless community. He said he has worked with the homeless at RUMC and in all his time, has not seen any drug use or other types of behavior that have caused people concern.

The theme of encouraging those who have concerns regarding the encampments to visit and meet members and residents of the homeless community was common among supporters.

One former encampment resident addressed council and the audience, sharing pieces of her story and how she is still working to get back on her feet.

RUMC pastor Lara Bolger also spoke in support of the encampments.

“I believe we are here as partners,” she said.

Bolger said in the last year, her church has hosted a shelter on its property — including a low-barrier emergency winter shelter — for six months out of the year. And in that time, they did not have any incidents in which they needed to call the police.

She also noted that from what she witnessed, there is a need for services and case management to help people transition to a more stable situation.

Another policy change for homeless encampments in Redmond is requiring sites to allow service providers in encampments.

NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERNS

For those who shared their concerns about having the encampments, a common theme among commenters was safety as many of the people live on Education Hill and near the churches where the encampments are hosted.

While they still want to help, people said they are concerned about having the shelters hosted on Education Hill for potentially long periods of time and great frequency (six-month-long stays, every six months).

Education Hill resident Brian Hansford shared his concerns and said they are compromising compassion for safety. As someone who works in downtown Redmond, he has seen how the growing visible homelessness has affected the neighborhood and said the city is not prepared to extend encampment stays.

“We are not ready to handle it,” he said.

Another man said people who are concerned about hosting the camps are stereotyped as hating the poor and being born with “silver spoons” in their mouths. He described these stereotypes as insulting and degrading because not everyone knows their personal circumstances and backgrounds.

He also said encampments are bad for the homeless population in that they do not allow drugs or alcohol onsite. This leads people to use elsewhere and if and when someone overdoses, it will likely be in an area that won’t have easy access to care or help.

One woman who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting shared that she has an aunt who is currently homeless in Los Angeles and while she has empathy for the homeless population, she does not feel safe at home with her baby. She said when an encampment is in town, she sees people dealing drugs, drinking and participating in other activities.

“I just want to feel safe,” she told council. “What I’m telling you is anecdotal, not statistics.”

Following the public comment portion of the meeting, former Redmond Police Chief Ron Gibson and City of Redmond senior planner David Lee shared their report with council, which included crime statistics.

Gibson said determining whether having an encampment in town correlates to an increase in crime in the neighborhood is easier said than done. He pointed out that the Education Hill patrol district also includes parts of downtown such as the library and public safety building — both of which receive many calls for service, as well.

Gibson added that the police deals with homeless issues on a daily basis, even when there is no encampment.

ZONE CHANGES

Another hot topic at Tuesday’s meeting was marijuana — specifically potential zoning changes that would allow retail cannabis businesses to open in Redmond.

As previously reported, state legislation now allows cities to reduce previous buffer zones between retail businesses and certain other uses down from 1,000 to 100 feet — or anything in between.

Jenny Carbon — who was awarded a retail business, which she has dubbed The Grass is Always Greener — supports this zoning change. She told council that this change would allow her to open her store, something she has been trying to do since she was awarded a store two years ago.

She pointed out the strict regulations cannabis businesses must adhere to and compared it to alcohol, which is now available in grocery stores.

Carbon also requested the city bring down the buffer zones to 100 feet where the state allows it, noting that some privately owned recreation businesses are requesting a 250-foot buffer, but those businesses sell and serve alcohol on their premises.

“I feel that we are being unfairly judged,” she said.

Others who spoke on Tuesday told council that this is their livelihood, it is not a hobby. This business is how they plan to pay their bills so they can stay in Redmond. One man said now that marijuana is legal in Washington, these businesses should be treated like any other business in town.

One woman pointed out that the new State Route 520 bridge has already opened and the legislation for that passed at the same time as the initiative legalizing recreational marijuana in Washington.

NEXT STEPS

Following the “Items from the Audience” portion of the meeting, Mayor John Marchione said these comments were very timely as council will be discussing both topics — homeless encampment permitting policies and marijuana retail business zoning changes — at their upcoming study session on Tuesday.

He said this meeting is open to the public, but there will be no public input component.

The meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. in the Redmond City Hall Council Chambers, 15670 N.E. 85th St.