Lansdale: Police plans to enforce park rules prompt fresh debate on homelessness

A policy regarding unhoused persons being put in place by borough police has drawn a fresh round of debate in Lansdale.

“As mayor, I’m the head of the police department. I issued a memo to the officers of the department, to begin a process of managing the unhoused in the parks, related to the sunup and sundown laws,” said borough Mayor Garry Herbert.

“Within the parks, there’s hours you’re allowed to be in there, and there’s hours that you’re not allowed to be in there,” he said.

Over the past two years, council and its committees have discussed homelessness in town, amid comments and concerns from residents worried about men sleeping in the gazebo at Memorial Park. Those concerns followed roughly two years of talks on homelessness spurred by the closing of the only county homeless shelter in Norristown in 2022. Resident concerns were also raised about encampments in multiple borough parks.

Since early 2024, Lansdale has partnered with a mental health co-responder to help respond to those experiencing mental health challenges or other problems not typically addressed by police when they respond to calls. Borough officials have also worked with Montgomery County to finalize plans for a county short-term housing facility on Main Street near North Wales Road slated to open this fall.

The borough has allowed use of a borough parks and recreation building as an overnight shelter for women during winter Code Blue nights, in addition to a shelter for men that operated for over 100 nights.

In early June, with winter over and more resident complaints about encampments, police and the mayor announced a new round of talks on the problem, and their latest tactic: a memo to police directing officers to remove those who live in the parks after a 30-day grace period, citing a need to protect the safety of residents and borough property, while working with those residents on how to find solutions.

That memo kicked off another round of discussion on June 18, when resident Sandy Watson asked several questions, including why and why now.

“What are the statistics? How many people are there? How many defecations are there? Why now? I know a lot of homeless people that live way in the back. How many parks are there that people are living in?” she said.

“Where are the solutions? There’s lots of solutions, with churches, and people interested, not just ‘You can’t be here any more, because some of our bushes are being damaged.’ That doesn’t make sense. Wait for the shelter to be built, and then enforce your ordinance. Why go through all this horror of what people have to live through? This is just so cruel — it’s like, there but for the grace of God, go I,” she said.

During her career, Watson told council, she has worked with people who have learned to adapt to mental illness, and helped them find places to work and live, and urged the town to do the same.

“I know a lot of people that live back there, that have serious mental illness, that would love to work. Nobody wants to work with somebody that’s hearing voices. They have no place to live,” she said.

“We know there are no places to live right now, but you’re going to go ahead with this. Will a hearing be held on this, and a motion to go through with this? You say it won’t be a sweep, but of course it will. Nobody cares about those people,” Watson said.

‘We are beginning the process’

Herbert replied that his memo directs officers “to find more secure housing, long term,” and to work with the co-responder to link them to the services they need.

“We are beginning the process of working with those individuals, to get them into better housing situations, and out of our parks. And taking that first approach before we begin anything remotely close to sweeping, or kicking them out:. We are focused on identifying the best way to help them, to move them into a better housing facility,” Herbert said.

Council President Mary Fuller said that any suggestions from residents were welcome, and Herbert added that his memo directs officers “to lead with compassion,” and try to connect those in parks with the services they need. Resident Carole Farrell then thanked the two for coming up with the new policy, and asked for no delay.

“I don’t feel safe walking the trails at Stony Creek Park anymore. I don’t think we should pause the ordinance and wait for the shelter to open,” Farrell said.

“The shelter will only house 20 people, and we’ll be pulling these individuals from all over Montgomery County. Our parks cannot wait this long. It has become a health and safety issue,” she said.

Last year, Farrell added, she heard estimates that the total homeless population in town was roughly 20 to 30 people, while this year’s estimates are closer to 50, and she has not seen or heard any action from other towns in the area, before echoing a point made by councilman BJ Breish in a recent letter to the editor.

“Are they Lansdale residents that fell on hard times, or people from other communities that come here because we are permitting people to live in our parks?”

“The gazebo would not have needed to be cleaned up to the extent it was, if we had stopped people from living there in the first place. Yes, I understand we were waiting on court rulings, but if we continue to let people move into the park, what is the cleanup cost going to be? And when actually is a good time?” Farrell said.

Fuller and Herbert then thanked the two for their comments, and said talks could continue in future council and committee meetings. Public safety committee chairwoman Meg Currie Teoh said she received an update from county officials with a projected opening in September for the county facility. “Demo has been completed, and they’re just working on rehab now,” she said.

Meanwhile in the park

During a visit to Stony Creek Park in mid-June, a pair of tents could be seen just feet from a trail near the park entrance, and one of the tent tenants told The Reporter he had already been visited by police, and made plans to move on.

“I’m working with the VA, and I’m getting an apartment, so I’ll be out of here — an officer stopped by Friday or Saturday and said I’m not really allowed to be here at all, but I’m gonna be packing up and going. I should have the apartment next week,” he said.

“He told me that, you’re not allowed to be here, and that — especially me and that tent over there, we’re going to be moved out. Maybe a couple weeks, maybe three weeks, ‘then we’ll be moving you out.’ I want to be out of here, totally, so I get the apartment and I’m gone,” he said.

The man, who identified himself only as V and the neighboring tent tenant as T, said he knew the borough’s mental health co-responder from previous encounters, and said when he went to police to ask where he could set up a tent, she recognized him.

    A man who identified himself only as V speaks from inside the tent he inhabits at Stony Creek Park in Lansdale on Tuesday, June 10, 2025.
 By Dan Sokil | The Reporter   

At Stony Creek, most of the tent tenants are farther back in the park close to rail lines, in an encampment behind a trail made of wooden pallets to keep walkers out of the mud. That encampment may be scattered soon: “The officer, he even said they might be getting kicked out. It’s not like they’re at the railroad station camping, but he said even they could get kicked out,” said V.

“I filled out the rest of the paperwork today, and should get the apartment next week. They were telling me, there’s another shelter opening up on North Wales Road and (Route) 63, it used to be a rehab center and they’re changing that over to a homeless shelter, which is cool, but I’m not gonna need it,” he said.

“I lost my job, lost my apartment — early April I lost the apartment, I moved in here the beginning of April, but I’m ready to go. I don’t want to be here, I don’t. I stop at Manna for help, and I don’t want to stop there anymore. They offer help to people, but I don’t want to hang out with…I have enough troubles in my life, I don’t need to see everybody else that’s got troubles, it makes me sadder.”

V added that he does have family in the area, but it’s complicated, and life in the park is simpler.

“I’m comfortable enough, and ready to go. My mom, she’s nearby, but me and my brother don’t get along, so I’m not allowed to live in her apartment until I get my own place…me and my brother, we can talk, but we don’t get along. I’m going there in the morning to get a shower, get breakfast, then go to Manna, I got a salad today, she has my cat that I’m gonna take with me to the apartment. It’s comfortable enough.”

“I grew up by Pennbrook Middle School, and it just started filling up more and more as I was getting older and older. When I was a little kid, there was plenty of open space to run around, play football, baseball, but now it’s overcrowded.”

Speaking of Pennbrook, his tent was on the Lansdale side of the park, but a few minutes’ walk away, two more tents could be seen in a clearing just a few steps away from the Pennbrook Parkway complex in Upper Gwynedd, part of which has been the epicenter of heated talks since early 2023 as a developer has proposed a complex of apartments, a portion of which would be allocated to those with low incomes.

V plans to move within weeks to an apartment in Conshohocken, and says “I won’t miss Lansdale too much, just a lot of the people I’ve gotten to know, nice people here. But I won’t miss Lansdale. And Conshy, when I went to see the apartment, the area is nice, there’s a huge park down the street from where my apartment will be, all kinds of shopping around there, plenty of stuff to do in Conshy….I’m glad I could put my tent here until I could find a place to live. It’s quiet here, in the park, but I need to get a home, and I’m almost there.”

What help did he get on the way to the park, and what did his first nights there look like? The Street Outreach program run by regional nonprofit Access Services gave V two big upgrades, right away.

“The first night I came out here, I had a comforter and a blanket, and I just laid on the ground. And it rained a little that night. And then I called Street Outreach, and said ‘Can you get me a tent?,’ they gave me a tent, ‘Can you get me a sleeping bag?’, they did. They’re there if you need them,” he said.

Manna helped connect V with the local VA office, and helped him work though the paperwork to apply for an apartment. As he spoke, a bicycle — wrapped in plastic to protect it from rain — sat leaning against a nearby tree, his only way to get around.

“I just go to Mom’s, here, Manna, here, mom’s, to pass the time,” he said.

    A tent belonging to a man known as T sits alongside a path running through Stony Creek Park in Lansdale, with the tent belonging to a man calling himself V just steps away at rear, as seen on Tuesday, June 10, 2025.
 By Dan Sokil | The Reporter   

Has he considered any job or skill training programs, through Manna? “I don’t ask them for anything else — I just get some food, go to dinner. I could go to Mom’s but don’t want to say ‘Mom, you’ve gotta buy me dinner,’ I don’t bother her with that. I just get (food) from Manna, and that’s it.”

What sort of job does he want? “I’m not applying anywhere yet, and all I have is the vehicle. I have to get one that’s not too far from the apartment, and then the work employment lady will help me with my resume, and putting out my applications,” he said.

“I lost my job in November, and I was applying for jobs while I still had the apartment. Everyone ignored me, because I’m 61, and they’re hiring younger people. My resume was lousy. So I go to Conshohocken, and it’s a whole different scene, and maybe I’ll get a job out there,” V said.

Prior to last winter, V says he worked in a warehouse locally, and lost his due to “my personal problems, and I’ve lost jobs before because of it. And it happened again, and now I’ve gotta restart again.”

What would he say to people in a similar situation? “Just be careful where you put your tent:  the area, make sure it’s OK with the authorities, with Lansdale or wherever you are, make sure it’s OK to have your tent where you’d like to have it.”

“Since I’ve been here, people walk by, they say ‘Hi, how are you doing,’ they don’t mind,” he said. “Nobody’s saying anything, like ‘What are you here for?’ they just walk their dogs, or they’re riding their bikes or scooters. And they wave hi, or whatever, I’m not in the way.”

    A pair of tents could be seen in a clearing in Stony Creek Park in Lansdale on Tuesday, June 10, 2025.
 By Dan Sokil | The Reporter   

As V chatted, another park user walked past with a dog, and asked if he feels secure. V said he does, before telling a story about a tent neighbor:

“He offered it to a lady that I met at Manna, and she was carrying a big trash bag. We came out here, and I put it up for her, and she only stayed there one night. He was there for a couple nights, and I came back from Manna, and there was a lady sitting in my tent, eating my munchies,” he said.

“I opened it up and she was sitting in here, and I said ‘No, that’s his tent over there, this is mine.’ And she stole pack of cigarettes, but gave it back to me, so I gave her a cigarette. It was no big deal to me, just ‘You’re in the wrong tent, miss, sorry.’ Other than that, it’s nice here. I’d rather not be here, but it’s quiet.”

After hearing that story, the dog walker said he’s been hearing similar debates about those who live in the park for years.

“It’s been going on a long time. My wife wrote a term paper interviewing the people that were here, and we’re seniors now, that was back when she was in college,” he said.

What does V plan to do after getting settled? Maybe connect with job hunting specialists who can help update his resume, to reflect his stint in the U.S. Navy in the early 1990s, and try to find a job fit for someone who once served “under the flight deck on an aircraft carrier.” His immediate plans for the day? Check in with his tent neighbor T, and maybe the other encampment farther back in the park, before another visit to Manna, and then back.

“He’s hardly ever there, once in a while I’ll see him in the morning, but he goes his way. If I got my tent over with everybody else, I wouldn’t have conversations, I’d just be sleeping…and going my way.”

Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on  July 16 and the public safety committee next meets at 6:30 p.m. on Aug.6, both at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine Street. For more information visit www.Lansdale.org.

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