photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Debris and other possessions are scattered throughout a homeless camp on the banks of the Kansas River in East Lawrence on Dec. 8, 2022.

Lawrence city officials are planning to close the homeless camp behind the Amtrak station in East Lawrence by mid-October, according to a news release from the city on Friday.

The release said the city’s Homeless Response Team informed camp residents on Friday that the camp behind the station at 413 E. Seventh St. would have to be vacated by Tuesday, Oct. 15. It said the city had begun working with the individuals at the camp to help them move into more permanent shelter or housing.

“Over the next two months, campers will be supported with wrap-around services to aid in their recovery from homelessness and get connected to shelter or housing,” the release said.

As the Journal-World has reported, questions have been raised in the past about whether the camp was allowed under city ordinances. In 2022, the city acknowledged that the camp was located on city-owned property that was zoned for open space, a zoning category that generally does not allow for overnight camping. And an inquiry by the Journal-World in 2023 found that the property, which lies along the banks of the Kansas River, is the site of a conservation easement held by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks that agreed in 1989 to forever protect the property as a winter nesting site for bald eagles.

In March of this year, the city closed another large homeless camp, known as Camp New Beginnings, that was just north of the Kansas River in North Lawrence.