The Grants Pass City Council has agreed to formally take up the pressing matter of camping and sanitation at Riverside Park on Wednesday, hours after police swept the park clear of homeless campers.

News of the sweep reached the council during its weekly workshop at City Hall on Monday. Councilor DJ Faszer subsequently persuaded his colleagues to hash out the twin subject of sanitation and the future of the part of the park near Caveman Bridge where the encampment is located during Wednesday night's regularly scheduled business meeting.

Controversy about the homeless encampment came to a head Monday morning, when the Department of Public Safety systematically began telling campers they had to go. By 11:15, only a few tents were still standing.

Campers piled belongings on sidewalks along Sixth Street by Caveman Bridge, and over on nearby Lewis Avenue, trying to get rides to another spot.

The encampment sprung up weeks ago and had grown at one point to nearly 30 tents despite a lack of sanitation facilities but plenty of police patrols that included citations for code violations, such as scattering trash, and occasional arrests for drug offenses.

Monday morning officers cleared it out.

“They just came and rousted us out of our tents and said, ‘Get out,’” said Teresa Hanson, a two-month resident. “I’m trying to get to Medford and get in a place there.”

Multiple campers said they were told they could come back in the evening. Under a ruling in a federal lawsuit that accused the city of criminalizing homelessness, the city cannot prevent people from camping in public parks at night, but only at night. The city is appealing the ruling, and also now adhering to the letter of the law, which allows camping only at night.

Andrew Urenda said he and other campers were warned this would happen five days ago.

“They told us starting the 28th we had to move off the property between 7:30 a.m. and 6 p.m,” Urenda said. “That’s ridiculous.”

For more than a week campers have been periodically told to move tents.

An officer at the scene, Tim Artoff, declined to comment on Monday morning’s activities. Public Safety Director Warren Hensman was at the scene briefly. He went to the City Council workshop afterwards and could not be reached immediately for comment.

Community service officers were loading up material from a large tent into a pickup, saying it was going to be safely kept.

“We’re taking it to our evidence facility,” said one of them.

Sue Wright stood by her taken-down tent, trying to figure out what to do.

“They said to move our stuff or they’ll move it out,” Wright said. “They said we could come back tonight. That sort of defeats the purpose.”

Wright said she received one kind gesture, when an officer charged up her cellphone.

The conflict over the homeless camp stems from a federal court ruling earlier this year that hamstrung the city's ability to discourage homeless people from camping overnight in city parks.

The decision by U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark D. Clarke built on an earlier ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Martin v. City of Boise that said in the absence of adequate public shelter, homeless people cannot be punished for sleeping outside when they have nowhere else to go. Grants Pass does not have a public shelter.

The clearing of the park came five days after a portable toilet was set up by citizens to address sanitation issues, but was removed by the city hours later.

Department of Public Safety officials have declined to talk about the park situation.

City Manager Aaron Cubic last week called sanitation issues at the park a matter for the City Council, including the placement of the portable toilet and its subsequent removal.

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Reach reporter Jeff Duewel at 541-474-3720 or jduewel@thedailycourier.com.