MEETING DATE:
October 14, 2025
SUBJECT:
Title
ORDINANCE NO. 2025-1565 - AMENDING SAN MARCOS MUNICIPAL CODE CHAPTER 10.33 (ENCAMPMENTS ON CITY PROPERTY) TO ADDRESS INCREASED INCIDENTS OF FIRES IN OR NEAR ENCAMPMENT AREAS
Body
Recommendation
Recommendation
INTRODUCE (First Reading) of a proposed Ordinance amending San Marcos Municipal Code Chapter 10.33 (Encampments on City Property)
Body
Board or Commission Action
Not Applicable
Relevant Council Strategic Theme
Good Governance
Relevant Department Goal
Not Applicable
Introduction
San Marcos Municipal Code (SMMC) Chapter 10.33 contains the City’s regulations governing encampments on public property. The City has recently experienced an uptick in fire activity in or near encampment areas. The proposed amendment is aimed at prohibiting combustible materials and decreasing the risk of fire in those areas.
Discussion
The Council adopted Chapter 10.33 in July 2024. That ordinance made it illegal to camp on public property within the City. It also prohibited certain specific activities in and around City waterways and set forth procedures for the notice and removal of personal property from public areas. It did not specifically address the possession or use of combustible materials.
Since the date that Chapter 10.33 was adopted, the Fire Department has noted an uptick in activities in or near encampment areas which pose a fire hazard. For example, on January 10th, there was a vegetation fire in a homeless encampment near 150 Valpreda Road; during the period January 16th to February 25th, the Fire Department was called upon at least five times to conduct smoke checks in the area of the westbound on-ramp to the 78 freeway from Twin Oaks Valley Road, due to cooking and warming fires at encampments; and on January 22nd, there were two incidents of people cooking at encampments behind City Hall, under the bridge, and near the intersection of Twin Oaks Valley Road and Mission Road. On June 21, 2025, there was an incident caused by a warming and/or cooking fire by persons camped in the vegetated area behind 122 N. Twin Oaks Valley Road (between the condominiums and westbound SR 78). As a result, City staff would like to amend Chapter 10.33 to clearly specify that using or possessing materials that could ignite or maintain a fire on public property is prohibited.
The proposed amendment to Chapter 10.33 would make it illegal to use an ignition source to start or attempt to start a fire, or to maintain a fire, on public property. “Ignition Source” is broadly defined to essentially include anything that could be used to start a fire. It would also prohibit using or possessing ignition sources, and discarding combustible materials on public property. Prohibited activities would include the following: burning wood, paper, vegetation, or debris; cooking with open flames; discarding any lit, burning, or combustible material that is capable of igniting a fire; and possessing an ignition source on one’s person while in an open space or watershed/waterway area.
As persons in the City’s most-populated encampment areas are essentially surrounded by “fuel” in the form of vegetation, trees, shrubs, wood, etc., the possession of any ignition source presents a potential hazard. It is anticipated that adoption of this amendment will assist fire personnel, code enforcement officers, and the Sheriff’s Department in mitigating these risks. In preparing the ordinance, we reviewed several other local ordinances that have been recently adopted or amended by other municipalities in light of the increased fire risks in San Diego County. We have attached two of those, El Cajon and Santee, which seem to most closely confront the issues the City is hoping to address with this amendment. Those ordinances are included as attachments to the agenda packet for this item for ease of reference.
Fiscal Impact
No direct costs are associated with the ordinance, as it addresses issues already encountered by first responders and code enforcement officials.
Environmental Impact
The proposed ordinance does not have the potential to cause either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment, and therefore does not constitute a “project” as defined by Public Resources Section 21065, and is exempt from CEQA or other environmental review pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15060(c)(3).
Attachments
1. ORDINANCE NO. 2025-1565 - Amending San Marcos Municipal Code Chapter 10.33
(Encampments on City Property)
2. El Cajon Municipal Code Chapter 8.04
3. Santee Municipal Code Chapter 7.20
Prepared by: Jill D.S. Maland, Assistant City Attorney
Reviewed by: Michelle Bender, City Manager