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Fort Collins City Council Tweaks Sit-Lie Rules

City of Fort Collins

The Fort Collins City council approved new rules for behavior in the city.

An ordinance passed during the March 21 meeting prohibits kneeling or lying down in or around a public restroom, sitting on decorative planters and leaving personal belongings unattended in public areas.

The 6-1 vote came after an hour of public testimony from business leaders and advocates including Lynn Thompson, a member of the Fort Collins Homeless Coalition.

“If unattended property is causing problems, then our first question as a healthy and compassionate community should be what alternative do people have to carrying their possessions and sometimes storing them in public spaces,” Thompson said.

Council member Gino Campana, who voted in favor, said the ordinance that was ultimately passed was a compromise.

“There’s people asking for more stringent and people asking for more lenient,” he said. “When we keep getting that back and forth, we’re probably narrowing it in on the right ordinance. We’re not making anyone happy and that’s probably the correct legislation.”

At a previous meeting, the city council rejected the most contentious part of the ordinance, which would have made it illegal to sit or lie on an Old Town sidewalk for most of the day.

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