Reserve St. fence construction postponed, new hire to look into logistics of legal camps

MISSOULA, Mont. — Construction on a new fence originally scheduled to begin this week under the Reserve Street bridge has been postponed until next Monday.

“Late last week we got an update from our contractor that some of the materials weren’t yet delivered, but they ensured me they will start Monday,” Montana Department of Transportation Missoula district administrator Bob Vosen told NBC Montana.

Vosen says they’re waiting for cable to be delivered. It will go on top of the 6- and 8-foot-tall fences.

“It’s standard for us in a crash area from a safety standpoint, and in this instance it helps, because it makes the fence more difficult to climb over as well,” said Vosen.

The fence will run parallel to the bridge near the sidewalk extending onto the bridge to prevent people from jumping over. It can’t be in the floodplains.

“It’s to clearly delineate that's an area where trespassing is not allowed,” said Vosen. “Going forward things may change, but at this point it’s not trespassing. We don't want people in that area at all.”

MDT’s press release says law enforcement will patrol the area during construction for security measures. When we asked the city and county, we found out they don’t have plans to patrol the area because they say MDT didn’t ask.

The city and county add law enforcement will respond to service calls when appropriate.

Missoula County tells us they’re not sure what the response to trespassing will look like.

“It will likely involve working with our community partners who have built trusting relationships with residents there, and law enforcement will likely be involved at points, too,” said Allison Franz in an email to NBC Montana. “But it's still too early for us to speak to anything beyond that.”

“I've been assured that they will be patrolling it once we get to that point,” said Vosen.

When asked if MDT has a plan to enforce no trespassing, Vosen said that’s for community partners and law enforcement, not an MDT role.

“We just continue to ask that we be supported in having no trespassing enforced on our property once the other places are available,” said Vosen.

The elected leaders of the city and the county asked the Missoula City-County Office of Emergency Management to set up an incident command team to look for possible sites to locate unsheltered people.

The team reported its findings on July 8 and named the three most suitable locations. None of the options are set in stone.

On Tuesday, county commissioners approved a one-year temporary employee who will work on the financial and logistical aspects around pursuing the options the team presented. That temporary position will be paid for with county and city ARPA funding.

Officials can't enforce trespassing under the bridge until there's a new place for the homeless to stay. That’s because of a ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Martin v. Boise. The court said it was cruel and unusual punishment to stop the homeless from camping in public places when they have no where else to go.

Right now, the Poverello Center is still operating at half capacity due to COVID-19. They tell us they think it will be a while before they increase capacity due to the delta variant.