A downtown Medford exclusion zone for those caught drinking or doing drugs in public will more than double in size.

Medford City Council voted 7-1 last Thursday to approve the expansion and also put more restrictions on outdoor camping, while raising the penalty from a violation to a misdemeanor.

The city first created a downtown exclusion zone in 2017 to prohibit those using drugs, fighting or engaging in other illegal behavior from entering the downtown area for a period of 90 days.

“Civil exclusions are an effective tool because they give us the teeth in order to take bad actors out of a particular area and ensure that area is being kept clear,” Medford police Sgt. Jason Antley said.

Antley leads the police Livability Team that patrols the downtown, and he said an expanded exclusion zone would help break up “social addiction circles” that hang out in various areas.

He said the Livability Team offers a number of local treatment services to addicts, but he said it’s difficult to have a conversation with individuals who are often chronically intoxicated.

Antley said the city has eight beds in the Jackson County Jail, which provides a place for people to sober up from drugs and then get set up in a treatment plan. Many of the addicts are resistant to treatment, and Antley said that in some instances an individual might have 60 or 70 cases pending against them for a variety of crimes, ranging from drug possession, drug sales or vandalism.

The previous exclusion zone did not include any properties north of Sixth Street or west of Laurel Street, and left out many local businesses and organizations that are considered part of the downtown.

Some of the businesses that weren’t part of the exclusion zone include Lithia headquarters, Common Block, Urban Cork, and the Children’s Advocacy Center of Jackson County.

The new downtown

civil exclusion zone

includes all of these areas as well as the residential area west of McLoughlin Middle School.

The exclusion zone still allows someone to return home or to go to work, but not to hang out with friends in the downtown, said Eric Mitton, city attorney.

He said the language in the ordinance is in line with new court cases that deal with outdoor camping on city streets.

Tammi Pitzen, executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Center, told the council that children come to her organization because they have endured trauma in their lives.

She said these same children sometimes have to go near people sleeping on sidewalks, seeing human waste by the front door or drug paraphernalia left on the campus.

Pitzen said her building on 10th Street has been vandalized.

“We’ve done everything recommended to us to do for deterrents,” she said.

The nonprofit has installed cameras, and Pitzen said she “double gloves” to clean up the campus so children don’t pick up drug paraphernalia.

She said she hopes expanding the exclusion zone will help minimize the problems.

“It’s one more tool to assist the Livability Team,” Pitzen said.

The council also approved new restrictions on outdoor camping.

Generally overnight camping on city streets is allowed, as long as it doesn’t impede pedestrians or block doorways and the bedroll is removed during the day.

Under the former code, someone camping needs to allow a 36-inch path for pedestrians.

The new code increases that amount to 48 inches.

The council expanded the number of areas where camping is prohibited, including on median strips and traffic islands.

Councilor Kevin Stine said that with an expanded exclusion zone, “Where are these people going to go?”

Antley said, “Ultimately it’s up to them.”

But he said the Livability Team, working with community partners, has resources to help them.

Antley said many of those taking drugs or drinking in addiction circles are not necessarily homeless.

“It’s not like some of them have nowhere to go,” he said. “That’s not what we see.”

Councilor Sarah Spansail was the only councilor to vote against the new ordinance changes.

She said it would severely impact homeless people

with disabilities and seniors.

She said forcing someone to move their bedding 500 feet or more every day is “draconian.”

“I vehemently oppose this amendment and ordinance,” she said.