Sebastopol neighborhood group files lawsuit to stop safe parking program for homeless people in RVs

A Sebastopol neighborhood group has sued the city to halt a controversial planned safe parking program at the north end of town for local homeless people living out of their RVs.

Friends of Northwest Sebastopol on Jan. 21 submitted a petition with the Sonoma County Superior Court seeking to force the Sebastopol City Council to reverse its decision approving the one-year pilot program at a privately owned lot at 845 Gravenstein Highway North.

“Friends acknowledges the importance of safe shelter for the unhoused. … Friends does object to the entire burden of such encampments being concentrated on one neighborhood,” the petition states.

The legal filing describes the group as representing the interests of local “homeowners and renters, parents of school children, business owners and operators, and property owners.” It was incorporated as a nonprofit on Jan. 5, according to California business filings.

Sebastopol City Attorney and Manager Lawrence McLaughlin said the city has hired outside lawyers and will “vigorously oppose” any attempts to stall or shut down the parking site.

Friends of Northwest Sebastopol Petition.pdf

The all-hours program that would offer supportive services and space for 22 vehicles is set to be fully operational by Feb. 15. A delay of more than a week could jeopardize the $368,000 in federal stimulus money set aside to fund most of the pilot program, according to Sonoma Applied Village Services, the nonprofit selected to run the site.

“Any delay is likely to kill the project,” said SAVS President Adrienne Lauby.

SAVS, which is named in the petition along with the city, plans to lease the lot at a former AmeriGas propane store from nonprofit St. Vincent de Paul Sonoma County.

St. Vincent is also named in the petition. Jack Tibbetts, the nonprofit’s executive director and a former Santa Rosa city councilman, said the charity has “every intent to move forward” with the lease agreement.

The safe parking program, approved by the City Council in November, came largely in response to health and safety concerns from neighbors and business owners over a long-standing encampment with more than a dozen RVs on Morris Street. The hope is to move as many people as possible from the unsanctioned camp, where police have warning campers, to the new “RV village.”

The city is also weighing an ordinance that would effectively ban RV parking on city streets during daylight hours, raising alarm with some homeless advocates. The council was set to vote on the ordinance on Tuesday, but the item has been moved to its following meeting on Feb. 15, city officials said.

Tony Francois, a San Francisco attorney representing Friends of Northwest Sebastopol, told The Press Democrat the group views the safe parking program as illegal because of a local ordinance prohibiting people from living in RVs.

Additionally, he said the City Council failed to follow the proper permitting process, conduct an environmental review and give residents enough notice to offer input on the program.

“The way they went about doing it deprived many of the project's neighbors from exercising their right to comment on the project before it was approved,” Francois said.

The City Council approved the RV village in about a month to meet a deadline ensuring SAVS received the federal funding. Despite the quick turnaround, council members at the time said they aimed to make every attempt to hear residents’ concerns.

McLaughlin, the city attorney, said the program was exempt for the normal permitting process and environmental review because it is a homeless shelter.

But Francois argues under state law, such a project is only exempt if it’s on city-owned property or the city itself is leasing the property.

McLaughlin disputes that interpretation. And as for the local ordinance banning living in vehicles, he said a safe parking program is exempted.

“All of the factual and legal allegations of the lawsuit are incorrect,” McLaughlin said.

Francois said the neighborhood group wants the city to reconsider the safe parking program through the normal permitting process and to potentially set up smaller RV villages throughout the city so vehicles are not concentrated in one site.

The group plans to ask the court for a stay to immediately pause the project as hearings are underway. But as of Thursday, Francois had yet to get confirmation the petition had been officially received due to court staffing shortages, he said, meaning it’s unclear when an initial hearing could be scheduled.

You can reach Staff Writer Ethan Varian at ethan.varian@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5412. On Twitter @ethanvarian