A homeless parking program that sprung up during the pandemic will end.

Last year, at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the county’s shelter-in-place order, a man who had been living in an RV in the parking lot at Roberts Lake approached the city of Seaside with a simple ask: Suspend the enforcement of the ordinance that prohibits people from sleeping in their vehicles. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control had issued guidance around protecting the unsheltered during the pandemic: Communicate clearly with those who sleep outside and post messages about masking and hand washing where possible, for example. And provide whatever stability you can for a community that is plagued by instability and a lack of access to basic healthcare.

The city agreed and suspended the ordinance, allowing about 35 vehicles to park at Roberts Lake. At that point in the pandemic, there weren’t a lot of recreational users of the trails at Roberts Lake.

But the complaints, according to Councilmember Jon Wizard, eventually came anyway.

“We got some concerns. People who spoke at a council meeting were concerned that the community didn’t represent the best image for Seaside because you could see it from Highway 1, and it was the first thing you see when coming off the highway down Canyon del Rey,” Wizard says. And the manager at the Embassy Suites told the council that “people didn’t want to pay $400 a night to look at a homeless encampment.”

The homeless living at the Roberts Lake parking lot came from all over California, Seaside City Manager Craig Malin says. They were people “caught in the pandemic who had no other place to go.”

The mission became this: Find those who were living in their RVs or cars at Roberts Lake a new place – a less visible place than the Roberts Lake parking lot. And that place became known as the Col. Durham site, a parking lot on land owned by the city and slated to become part of the Campus Town development, which Malin believes can and will break ground sometime later this year.

The Col. Durham site became an all-city project. Malin, typically humble, didn’t mention he went out there on his own time (and probably on his own dime) to rig up camp showers for those living there. PG&E was summoned to turn on the power, so those living there would have a way to charge their cell phones. And in all, between 30 and 40 vehicles moved to the Col. Durham site.

There were rules, Malin says. No open fires, no entering the old and very decrepit church that remains on the property. And there would be no tolerance for physical violence between encampment members.

Those who moved from Roberts Lake were issued permits to place in their windows. The city spent about $12,000 a month, from CARES Act funding, to pay for the water and electricity, and for portable toilets and garbage disposal. Social service agencies, meanwhile, have been making weekly visits trying to bring the small community services and information, and Seaside Fire Chief Mary Gutierrez arranged a Covid vaccination clinic for those living there.

But following a discussion at the May 6 Seaside City Council meeting, the council voted that on June 15 – the same day, coincidentally, that Gov. Gavin Newsom just pegged as the end of Covid-era mask rules – the parking encampment will end.

Everyone there has their own story, Malin says. Some are in nice RVs and could likely afford to pay for extended stays at established RV parks. Others are destitute and have “challenging life stories” as it relates to substance abuse and mental health. Where they will go come June 15 is still up in the air.

“On June 15, we will start to enforce the law that says you can’t sleep in your vehicle and if you don’t move of your own volition, you will be towed,” Malin says. “This whole thing relates to the pandemic. We gave space for almost a year and a half for people to shelter during the pandemic.”

Where people are currently living in their vehicles is slated to become development. The city has secured $6.8 million in bonds to tear down the old buildings, then sell the property to father-and-son developers Danny Bakewell Sr. and Danny Bakewell Jr. for $9 million.

“We’re happy we were able to shelter 50 people in place,” Malin says, “but Campus Town is moving forward.”

MARY DUAN writes Local Spin for the Weekly. Reach her at mary@mcweekly.com