ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. — City leaders in Altamonte Springs started the year by addressing concerns about camping in public places.

Last month, city commissioners approved the first reading of an ordinance that would prohibit people from camping overnight in public places like sidewalks. On Tuesday, they held a second reading and voted to approve the ordinance.

What You Need To Know

  • The Altamonte City Commission on Tuesday approved a new ordinance that prohibits overnight camping in public spaces

  • The ordinance requires officials to seek a better shelter accommodation for the individual if one is available

  • If not, the individual could be granted temporary permission to remain in the area until a solution is found

  • The ordinance is in addition to state laws that already prohibit blocking the right of way on public sidewalks

  • Violators could be fined $500 and spend up to 60 days in jail

Officials say the ordinance prohibits camping in public spaces or blocking the right of way, granting law enforcement the right to remove anyone doing so. However, law enforcement would need a shelter-related solution available in most cases to remove the individual.

“If there is a case where there are not sufficient, if there is not a bed that we can find in Central Florida, the law allows us, and our ordinance allows us to leave that person in place until there is or to try and find some other kind of accommodation for them,” Altamonte Springs City Manager Frank Martz said.

The ordinance stems from months of complaints about the homeless population in the city, citing an example of people grilling and even setting up a mini-gym on the sidewalk, Martz said. Although blocking the right of way on sidewalks has always been a law, this ordinance would specifically penalize people refusing to clear the area when asked while also focusing on helping those individuals find a more suitable place for shelter at the same time, he said.

“Staying on the sidewalk, that’s not an option. But if there’s no place for them to go, our goal is to try to find a place for them to be, and be sheltered,” Martz said. “If the only place that they can be for that period of time is on the sidewalk, we’ll accommodate that.”

Violators of the ordinance could spend up to 60 days in jail and fined $500. Martz added that while law enforcement would be enforcing the violations, the city and county, along with other community partners, would all work together to help people experiencing homelessness find adequate housing solutions.