ANCHORAGE, Alaska—
Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan's office has introduced a new version of its controversial illegal campsite ordinance -- the law approved by the Anchorage Assembly that set ground rules on when police or city officials could remove illegal homeless campsites.In July, the American Civil Liberties Union sued to stop the law, citing vague information given to offenders on what laws they’d broken, as well as concerns about the seizure and destruction of people’s property. The ACLU was granted a temporary restraining order against that law, prohibiting the city from carrying out homeless camp sweeps.
The revised law introduced at Tuesday night's Anchorage Assembly meeting clarifies to any illegal camper exactly what law they're breaking. It also gives extra time -- two days -- for someone to appeal a decision to remove a campsite.
The new law does not change the amount of warning an illegal camper gets before their campsite can be removed -- it stays at five business days.
The Assembly will have a public hearing on the new ordinance later this month before deciding whether to approve it.
Contact Jason Lamb at jlamb@ktuu.com
