photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Belongings litter the ground in a wooded area near the railroad tracks north of Sandra J. Shaw Community Health Park. The notice taped to the tree in the foreground, posted by BNSF Railway on Tuesday, March 12, demands the removal of all personal items on railway property within 72 hours.

Updated at 2:42 p.m. Friday, March 15

BNSF Railway earlier this week posted a notice north of Sandra J. Shaw Community Health Park notifying people camping on nearby railway property to move their belongings by Friday morning, or else railway police would remove and dispose of the items.

The Journal-World located the flyer Thursday afternoon; it is dated March 12 and appears to have been posted at 9:20 a.m. The flyer demands the removal of all personal items from the area within 72 hours of the posted date and time.

At least one flyer is posted north of the park in a wooded area about 30 or 40 yards west of the railroad bridge.

photo by: Google Maps screenshot

The pin near the top of this map shows the location where BNSF Railway posted a notice notifying people camping on nearby railway property to move their belongings by 9:20 a.m. on Friday, March 15, 2024.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

The notice posted by BNSF Railway on March 12, 2024.

“It is unlawful to store personal possessions on private property or to leave anything unattended without the expressed permission of the property owner,” the flyer reads.

The Journal-World reached out to BNSF Railway for comment early Thursday morning, asking about the timing of the posting and whether BNSF has posted similar notifications near railway property anywhere else in Lawrence. That request didn’t receive a response, but BNSF did respond to a second request sent Friday morning.

“We did provide a 72-hour notice to those who have placed their belongings on private property, which is an active right of way with trains moving in both directions,” a BNSF spokesperson told the Journal-World via email. “We work to compassionately address encampments and provide time for individuals to gather their belongings before we come in and clean up the location. We did this several years ago in the same location.”

BNSF also said that it was reaching out to Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center and the Lawrence Police Department to help offer assistance in relocating individuals before cleanup begins.

The property in question is about a half mile from Bert Nash and LMH Health.

In November 2023, a local freelance journalist, Chansi Rose Long, was struck and killed by an Amtrak train on the BNSF railway while researching encampments in the area. Long was walking on the railroad tracks to get to her car after staying the night at an encampment near Burcham Park as part of a “lived experience” story about homelessness she was writing to post on her own online outlet.

photo by: Shawn Valverde

Campsites dot the landscape around Sandra J. Shaw Community Health Park in Lawrence on March 14, 2024.