What you need to know:
- The Palmer City Council will vote next month on whether to explicitly ban camping and sleeping on city streets and in business entryways, with fines of up to $300. Officials said violators would be connected with local resources before receiving a citation.
- If approved, enforcement would fall to the Palmer Police Department. City officials said the rule is necessary to maintain public health and safety.
- There are no homeless shelters in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. If the measures are approved, Palmer would join Anchorage in explicitly banning camping on or near public property.
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PALMER — The Palmer City Council will vote next month on whether to explicitly ban camping and sleeping on city streets and in business entryways, and allow fines for breaking the rules.
A pair of measures making the change will be considered at a regular City Council meeting scheduled for Oct. 16. They were proposed by Council members Victoria Hudson and Carolina Graver.
The proposals are designed to curtail the practice of homeless individuals sleeping on the city’s streets, Hudson said. They are not meant to penalize an individual’s status, such as homelessness, she said…