Department of Police
Reference: Ordinance Proposal - Camping on Private Property
To: Mayor Gregory Mills and Members of City Council
Through: Michael P. Martinez, City Manager
Prepared By: Mike Domenighini, Support Services Police Commander
Date Prepared: November 7, 2025
PURPOSE
To inform, update, and solicit council's consideration for the establishment of a municipal ordinance to address community concerns related to encampments on private property.
BACKGROUND
Historically, the Brighton Police Department has fielded calls regarding encampments on private property across the City of Brighton. While the volume of calls regarding private property encampments is minimal, approximately 17 reports of tent encampments and 12 reports of RV encampments in 2025 as of November 1, the public impact and the workload per call can be resource intensive. Calls of this nature can take months to fully resolve, with mitigation ultimately relying on cooperative property owners.
Steps involved to mitigate a private property tent or RV encampment include:
* Making initial contact with the private property owner,
o providing guidance, resources, and ordinance guidelines,
o with property owner permission, posting the encampment with trespassing notices,
o issuing a notice of violation to the private property owner to set a clean-up deadline,
* Repeated follow-up visits,
o Patrol Officer safety inspection to ensure occupants have cleared and no safety threats persist,
o Community Service Officer inspection for compliance, possibly resulting in a citation and initiating abatement action.
The property owner incurs the expense of cleanup and any fines or penalties while city staff expend significant personnel hours. Mitigation delays and court processes can result in long-term blight with abatement potentially resulting in additional costs for the city. In many cases, expensive hazardous material certified cleaning crews are needed.
Citizens who report issues with tent and R...
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