photo by: Chris Conde

A spray-painted orange line runs through campsites on the levee on Dec. 27, 2023, in North Lawrence.

The City of Lawrence is taking steps to remove campsites on the Kansas River levee near the city-supported campsite for homeless individuals. To this end, city workers have painted a bright orange line through a campsite indicating where campers can no longer be.

The city-supported camp in North Lawrence behind Johnny’s Tavern is a fenced area that has been at the site for over a year. Since October of 2022, numerous tents have sprung up outside the fence, many directly on the sloped levee.

photo by: Chris Conde

A sign and a spray-painted line are pictured Dec. 27, 2023, on the levee along the Kansas River, informing campers that campsites there will be removed after Jan. 8, 2024.

Citing city and federal guidelines, a notice posted Wednesday at the site — accompanying the orange line — said that individuals would no longer be able to camp or place any type of structures on the grassy area along the levee.

“These changes are due to the concerns with levy maintenance and federal regulations,” the notice said, adding that any property left in the area after Jan. 8, 2024, would be discarded.

“Only grassy vegetation is allowed on the levee, levee berm, or within the right-of-way, which is typically 15 (feet) from the levee toe of the levee or berm. No unapproved encroachments are allowed in this right-of-away,” the notice said.

The Journal-World has reached out to the city requesting more information about the timing of the line-drawing and what specifically prompted it.

photo by: Shawn Valverde

Homeless encampments are pictured along the Kansas River levee on Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023.

As the Journal-World reported, a group of Lawrence businesses recently sued the city over homeless camps being allowed to spring up in Lawrence, creating what the 24 plaintiffs termed a “vagrancy crisis.”

The lawsuit is asking a judge to declare the city-sanctioned camp, called “New Beginnings,” and an unsanctioned camp behind the Amtrak station in East Lawrence public nuisances. The city has not yet filed an answer to that lawsuit.

The lawsuit contends that numerous individuals in the unsanctioned camp between New Beginnings and the levee have been banned from the city camp but still avail themselves of services and food and water provided to those in the fenced city camp.

Lawrence’s homeless population increased by 51% in a single year, as the Journal-World has reported. And in 2023, the city’s homeless population increased more than four times faster than the national rate, making Lawrence and Douglas County home to one of the nation’s most rapidly growing homeless populations, according to a new federal report.

Earlier this month the city wrapped up construction at the new Pallet shelter village at 256 N. Michigan St. — a site with 50 small shelters for those experiencing homelessness. The Lawrence Community Shelter will oversee operation of the village, but it hasn’t set an opening date. The shelter’s new director, James Chiselom, is scheduled to start on Jan. 5.

The city has not specifically indicated whether and when it will close its camp in North Lawrence and begin shutting down the numerous unsanctioned camps around Lawrence.

photo by: Chris Conde

A spray-painted orange line runs through campsites on the levee on Dec. 27, 2023, in North Lawrence.

photo by: Chris Conde

A spray-painted orange line runs through campsites on the levee on Dec. 27, 2023, in North Lawrence.

photo by: Chris Conde

Camp New Beginnings in North Lawrence is pictured Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023.

— Reporter Chris Conde contributed to this report.