Two ordinances the council adopted on split votes last year are due for renewal at Monday night's City Council meeting, and both are listed on the consent agenda.
One bans camping in parks and other public areas citywide. The other bars people from sleeping outdoors, lying on sidewalks or sitting in streets and medians in a defined part of downtown. The council adopted both on Oct. 21, 2025, with a built-in one-year sunset so members would have to revisit them.
Without action, each would lapse on Oct. 21, 2026. The proposed ordinances would extend them through Oct. 5, 2027, and require another review by that date.
What the rules say
Under the camping ordinance, using a park or public area as a place to live counts as camping. The law lists storing belongings, building a campfire, cooking, digging, and using a tent, shelter or vehicle as living quarters. It also treats parking an occupied vehicle overnight, between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., on a public right-of-way or a city-owned lot as camping.
Areas the city designates for camping are exempt, as are homeowners on their own single-family lots and overnight parking on private commercial lots. Property owners can be cited if they knowingly allow camping on their land and do not clear it within 24 hours of written notice from the city.
The downtown ordinance applies only after a police officer tells a person the conduct is prohibited and the person keeps doing it.
It does not cover someone having a medical emergency, customers at permitted sidewalk cafes and parklets, people at permitted special events, anyone sitting on a city or property-owner bench between one and three feet high, or people waiting in line at a downtown business or nonprofit. A disability is a defense to prosecution.
Violations of either ordinance fall under the city's general penalty section, and each day counts as a separate offense.
How the votes went last year
The downtown measure passed 6-1, with council member Justin Beller opposed, and the citywide camping rules passed 5-2, with Beller and council member Geré Feltus voting no, according to Local Profile's report on the October 2025 meeting.
Beller called the pair "a step too far" at the time, arguing that people would be pushed further into hardship "until we have resources in place that give them an option." Mayor Bill Cox, speaking to CBS News Texas before the vote, said the city's first job was for residents "to feel safe" and for businesses to operate profitably.
