Updated at 1:31 a.m.
Burlington officials have postponed plans to clear an encampment of people without housing for one week, laying out a plan to use state funds to relocate people living at the Sears Lane camp starting Oct. 26.
Mayor Miro Weinberger, who last week had announced plans to clear the camp, declared the postponement during Monday night’s City Council meeting.
The decision followed a wave of opposition to the clearing of the Sears Lane camp scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 19. Camp residents and their advocates say 20 to 30 people live at the site in the South End.
Opponents had also raised questions about whether dispersing the camp violated the city’s policies regarding the dispersion of settlements on public land.
In remarks at Monday’s meeting, Weinberger said the adjustment stemmed from negotiations “in good faith” between the city and residents of the camp.
“To protect the health and safety of the campers, neighbors, and our first responders we must close this encampment,” Weinberger said in a statement. “However, we will not stop fighting to bring needed support and resources to members of our community who are housing insecure.”
Weinberger said the city would rely on funds from the Vermont Department of Children and Families to help relocate the campers. In a news release, state officials said they plan to work with the Chittenden Homeless Alliance, the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity and the Howard Center Street Outreach Team.
The city also pledged to store residents’ belongings for 30 days after the camp is scheduled to close.
But the new plans did little to quell the outrage expressed by some in the community toward the camp’s closure. Roughly 20 people at the meeting lambasted the move during a sometimes heated public forum period, with some residents cursing or talking beyond their allotted time.
Progressive city councilors also criticized the camp’s closure, expressing doubt that the displaced residents would find adequate housing.
In addition to public opposition toward the camp’s removal, the American Civil Liberties Union’s Vermont chapter said the disbandment appears to be in violation of a city policy enacted in 2019, when the city settled another eviction case with the advocacy group. That policy declares the city can only remove campers in an emergency, defined as a situation “where significant harm has occurred or is likely to occur.”
While Weinberger contended that two incidents that occurred at Sears Lane last week met that definition, attorneys for the chapter disagreed.
“In this instance, we see no grounds for the emergency removal or the collective punishment of these members of our community,” said Jay Diaz, general counsel for the organization.
Weinberger’s administration moved to close the camp last week after police arrested a camper on Wednesday as part of what they called a “month-long narcotics investigation.” Later that day, another resident of the camp allegedly pointed a pellet gun at firefighters as they responded to a medical emergency, police said.
City officials previously made efforts to invest in the encampment, such as exploring whether they could build tiny houses on the parcel, placing a dumpster there for residents to put their waste and asking local nonprofits to add safety features to the site.
Officer cap
In other business Monday night — and early into Tuesday morning — city councilors voted 8-4 to increase the police hiring cap to 79 officers, excluding those who are stationed at Burlington International Airport.
As councilors sparred past midnight, Progressives Zoraya Hightower, Ward 1, and Jane Stromberg, Ward 8, crossed over to help push the new cap through.
An earlier effort by Progressive councilors — including Hightower and Stromberg — to approve an 81-officer force including the airport officers failed after it resulted in a tie.
Weinberger and acting Police Chief Jon Murad advocated for an 80-officer target excluding the airport, pointing out that the number fell within the range of 77 to 80 officers that was backed up by an independent report commissioned by the city.
But some councilors wanted to aim for the lower end of that range, saying that the force’s culture had not changed enough to justify spending more money on hiring officers.
The number of officers who need to be stationed at the airport is unclear. Weinberger said that a federal rule required at least eight officers to work at the airport, though the report commissioned by the city stated that the number could be less.
In the end, councilors voted to split the issue and handle the number of officers who will work at the airport separately at another time.
