City works to close homeless encampment behind Amtrak station in East Lawrence by Oct. 15 | News, Sports, Jobs

Photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Debris and other belongings lie scattered at a homeless encampment along the banks of the Kansas River in East Lawrence on December 8, 2022.

According to a press release from the city of Lawrence on Friday, authorities plan to close the homeless camp behind the Amtrak station in East Lawrence by mid-October.

The press release said the city’s homeless services team notified encampment residents on Friday that the encampment behind the station at 413 E. Seventh St. must be cleared by Tuesday, Oct. 15. It said the city has begun working with people in the encampment to help them move to more permanent housing or homes.

“Over the next two months, camp participants will be supported with wraparound services to help them overcome homelessness and find housing or shelter,” the press release said.

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

In March of this year, the city closed another large homeless camp called Camp New Beginnings, located north of the Kansas River in North Lawrence.