City Amends Bylaw To Clear Homeless From Nunns Creek Park

The City of Campbell River amended its nuisance bylaw June 1 to clear homeless campers out of the main section of Nunns Creek Park and confine them to a vacant section in the southwest corner of the park.

The City of Campbell River amended its nuisance bylaw June 1 to clear homeless campers out of the main section of Nunns Creek Park and confine them to a vacant section in the southwest corner of the park.

The city was under pressure to pass the bylaw in rapid time because organizers of the Campbell River Salmon Festival’s Logger Sports told them that unless the park was cleaned up, this year’s festival – to be held in August – will have to be cancelled.

SalmonFest did not occur in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and it had a scaled back event last summer. During that time, there was an increase in homeless camping with the city, particularly in Nunns Creek Park which is one location close to downtown which permits the homeless to set up temporary shelter.  The city is legally required to provide people experiencing homelessness with a location to shelter.

The area the homeless are currently occupying is an area of the park used by Salmon Festival. In order to help address the society’s concerns, city staff, after walking the area concerned, determined that homeless camping would need to be restricted to a different area of the park. Any plan would need to take in the needs of other park users as well, such as the Campbell River Dog Fanciers who hold a multiday event in August, along with the ball diamonds and environmentally-sensitive areas associated with the creek.

Staff’s advice is that the only area of the park which would be suitable for camping would be the former BMX track area located off Homewood Road where a previous proposal to establish a campground was put forward. The former BMX track is also fully-owned by the the City of Campbell River.

City staff recommended, and council passed, a Public Nuisance Bylaw Amendment at a special meeting June 2 that will prohibit camping throughout Nunns Creek park from April 1 to Sept. 30 annually, except for the three-acre parcel of land fronting Homewood Road, the former BMX track.