McKinney City Council members passed the two ordinances during an Oct. 21 meeting more than a month after they were tabled. One ordinance would make it unlawful to lie down or sit in certain areas of downtown McKinney and another ordinance would make it unlawful to sleep in a vehicle overnight in certain areas of the city.
Council members voted 6-1 to approve the downtown-specific ordinance with council member Justin Beller voting against the motion. Council members voted 5-2 to approve the second ordinance regarding camping citywide with Beller and council member Geré Feltus voting against the motion.
The ordinances are set to take effect after official posting, according to city officials.
What you need to know
The first ordinance approved by council makes it unlawful to sleep outdoors, sit in a public street or median, or lie down on a public sidewalk, street, median, parkway or pedestrian right of way. A person would be allowed to sit on a chair, bench or architectural feature supplied by the city or private property owner, according to a city document.
Exceptions are included in the ordinance for emergencies, Americans with Disabilities Act compliance and common public activities, according to a staff presentation. People would still be able to sit at public parks and special events.
That ordinance will apply within downtown McKinney, according to the staff presentation
The second ordinance approved by council applies citywide and clarifies that camping is prohibited in any publicly accessible outdoor area that’s not designated for camping. The ordinance expands the definition of camping to include staying or sleeping in a vehicle overnight.
In the case of sleeping in a vehicle, Assistant City Manager Jennifer Arnold specified that the ordinance will apply to people sleeping overnight in a public right of way, a city-owned parking lot or a residential lot’s driveway. The ordinance would not apply to someone sleeping in their car at a commercial parking lot at the discretion of the owner. A property owner can still legally camp on their own property, according to a city document.
Both ordinances were passed with sunset clauses meaning they will expire Oct. 21, 2026 if an extension is not approved by council members.
What they’re saying
Council member Patrick Cloutier made motions to approve both items after discussion among council members. He said council is asked to solve a lot of problems, but there are some things that they’re not good at solving.
“Being the seven to solve this problem is one of them,” he said. “There's opportunities for folks to step up here. One of the other things we can do is work on housing.”
Cloutier said they will be disappointing some people with the votes taken that night but city officials will monitor these ordinances moving forward. Council members will have the option to repeal these throughout the year.
“If we don’t like it, we can repeal it,” Cloutier said. “I’ll be paying attention.”
Council member Beller called the ordinances a “step too far.”
“These ordinances ... put people up between a rock and a hard place,” Beller said. “Until we have resources in place that gives them an option, I think we are just pushing them further into that hard place and it's going to cause issues that they can't recover from.”
He said the city was facing an underinvestment in affordable housing and had not seen an increase in federally subsidized housing since 1990. The city has typically acted as enforcers in addressing homelessness but it is frustrating how much effort is expended in telling people they can’t be somewhere, Beller said.
“I’m going to be a ‘No’ on this ordinance,” he said “I think that we are going to cause some pains that we can't recover from.”
