Ordinance 3957-23 - Laserfiche WebLink

ORDINANCE NO. ________ An ORDINANCE relating to public health and safety creating Service Facility Buffer Zones for social services providers, shelter and temporary housing providers, and other high impact areas and amending Title 9 of the Everett Municipal Code by enacting a new Chapter 9.54 EMC. WHEREAS, A.The Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 35.22.280 empowers first-class cities to regulate and control the use of streets and sidewalks, to declare and abate nuisances, to provide for the punishment of conduct and practices dangerous to public health or safety, and to provide for regulations necessary for the preservation of public morality, health, peace, and good order, and Article XI, section 11 of the State Constitution authorizes cities to make and enforce all police, sanitary, and other regulations not in conflict with general laws. B.It is the objective of the City Council that all individuals residing in the City have adequate shelter and access to treatment services, and this ordinance is intended to encourage and promote this objective. C.Homelessness, substance use disorders, and insufficient access to substance use and mental health treatment are all significant problems in the City of Everett and the City is committed to providing additional treatment capacity and permitted emergency shelter and permanent housing for the City’s unhoused residents. D.The City recognizes that the impacts of street-level social issues are not evenly distributed throughout the City. E.The areas surrounding treatment and housing services and surrounding certain other high impact locations such as large retail stores are disproportionality adversely impacted by street-level social issues on public property that make the use of the public property difficult, unsafe, or unwelcoming and affect the safety and quality of life of nearby property owners, businesses, residents, and the general public. F.The impact of street-level social issues, nuisance criminal activity, and open air drug activity that sometimes exist near treatment or housing services impacts the health and safety of the surrounding community by causing excessive garbage, used hypodermic needles, human feces, rat infestations, and personal violence against, by, and among those gathered there. G.Street-level social issues, nuisance criminal activity, and open air drug activity that sometimes exist near treatment or housing services all have a negative impact on neighborhoods where they are located by inhibiting the public use of those areas for their intended purposes and can 3957-23