Community members spoke about a proposed public camping ban during a more than six-hour Morgantown City Council meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Morgantown, W.Va. (Morgantown City Council livestream screenshot)
An effort to repeal a Morgantown law that would impose criminal penalties on homeless people sleeping on the street has failed with an insufficient number of signatures collected, the city said Thursday.
Morgantown City Council passed a camping ban last month, during a meeting that stretched into the early morning after five hours of public comment. The new law prohibits camping on any public property — including streets, parks and trails — and prohibits storing personal property in public areas.
Second and third violations of the law are punishable by fines of $200 and $300 and/or 30 days in jail, respectively.
Supporters say the camping ban is an effort to balance the needs of vulnerable people with those of the rest of the community who want a safe, vibrant downtown. Opponents to the ban, including homeless service providers, say the city does not have enough emergency shelter beds available to house all the people who may be affected by it.
The ordinance has not yet gone into effect as a group of petitioners submitted to the city a proposal to either repeal the law or put it to a vote during a future city election. Under the city code, petitioners were required to collect valid signatures from at least 10 percent of the total number of qualified voters registered during the last regular city election, the city said in the news release.
Petitioners against the ordinance needed 1,310 signatures. They presented to the city more than 2,000 signatures, but only 956 were considered valid, Bradley Riffee, spokesman for the city, said in an email to West Virginia Watch.
“The City of Morgantown will continue to work with the petitioners as they continue to follow the filing process, ensuring adherence to established requirements for referendum as adopted by the Morgantown municipal charter,” the city’s news release said.
Riffee said the law is still not in effect pending the certificate of insufficiency being presented to city council.
A representative from the groups of petitioners, which includes legal advocacy organization Mountain State Justice, declined to comment.
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