Kamloops bylaw officers now have stronger tools to clear out entrenched homeless encampments along the river banks, but an immediate, sweeping crackdown appears unlikely.

Sources have told Radio NL that despite the newly approved amendments to the City’s Parks and Public Spaces bylaw, the expectation is that the status quo will remain in place for now.

Enforcement — at least in the short term — is expected to be prioritized only when there is an immediate danger to the community, specifically through criminal activity or illegal fires.

With high heat driving up the risk of interface fires across Kamloops, illegal campfires are said to be a rapidly growing concern among officials.

Camp fires remain illegal year-round inside Kamloops’ municipal boundaries, and were also banned by the BC Wildfire Service as of July 10th.

It comes as the fire danger rating within Kamloops’ municipal boundaries and beyond remains high, and is expected to get even worse before the coming week is through.

While the City of Kamloops will likely remain focused on heat and fire-related issues — as well as water conservation — if and when CSO’s do turn their attention to over-stays and entrenched encampments, they will have the legal authority to back up any move toward that.

The updated park management bylaw gives staff the explicit power to dismantle camps and remove possessions if they violate strict new size, time, and location rules.

Under the new regulations, temporary overnight shelters must be packed up by 8 a.m. every day.

Shelters are also limited to 10 square meters and can’t be connected together in any form.

There are also new restrictions on where overnight camping will be allowed, with 50-meter buffer zones now enforceable around school and areas where and are prohibited from being set up near schools or water utilities.

The changes come in response to growing safety concerns from residents, but the new rules were not without opposition.

Councilor Nancy Bepple made herself the lone vote on council against the changes during the July 14th open council session, expressing concern that any strict enforcement of the bylaw updates could spawn the creation of larger, centralized encampments elsewhere in the city.

“We look at Penticton, they had an encampment of 200 people, Maple Ridge had 90 individuals, Nanaimo had gun violence in their large encampment and it took 41 months to dismantle a large encampment in Crab Park,” said Bepple. “So I am opposed to these changes.”

There have also been concerns raised that a sweeping crackdown could end up pushing folks to areas outside municipal jurisdiction, including along the highway corridors running through Kamloops, which are administered by the provincial government, or on to river bank territory controlled by Tk’emlups.

Addressing those concerns, Councilor Katie Neustaeter would push back at Tuesday’s meeting, suggesting this is a scenario which isn’t being considered as likely to this point, provided the City comes at the issue .

“There’s been absolutely no concern, no red flag, no risks flagged by staff,” Neustaeter said. “This makes relatively minor changes that are trying to move us in the direction of being able to handle challenging social issues in a humane and respectful way.”

At any given time, there are around 200 folks in Kamloops living without a permanent home, either in shelters from night to night, or staying with someone they know on a temporary basis.