San Clemente ban on feeding people in public without a permit fails to pass

An effort to regulate food distribution in San Clemente, which critics assailed as anti-homeless, fell short of gaining enough votes from City Council to become law.

San Clemente Councilman Rick Loeffler pushed for the proposed ban to be discussed at Tuesday’s meeting as a measure that would clean up North Beach from the trash left behind by gatherings involving food.

He originally sought to make it a condition on Feb. 4 for exempting Christ Lutheran Church, which has hosted weekly potlucks on North Beach for years as part of its beach services, from a 30-day special event permit.

At the urging of his council colleagues, Loeffler decided, instead, to put it on the agenda as a law that would cover all groups across the city.

The Orange County Health Care Agency already requires food handling permits for gatherings of 50 people or more where food is distributed.

San Clemente City Council considered a number of regulations for smaller gatherings, including a single-day permit that could account for the safety of the food, sanitary conditions at the site of distribution and proof that those being fed couldn’t access food or drink from a previously approved location or program.

“If there’s groups going to our parks and just handing out food to anybody that comes up, that doesn’t sound like a good idea,” Loeffler said. “If there [are] organizations that want to do this, if they just go get a permit, it’s really a simple process.”

Loeffler insisted that the proposal did not singularly target homeless people.

He added that the same council that granted an exemption for Christ Lutheran Church would not infringe on religious liberties through the ban.

But some residents pushed back and warned that such a move would leave San Clemente vulnerable to a lawsuit as an infringement on constitutionally protected religious freedom.

“This aims to ban sharing food and fellowship with the homeless at North Beach and other locations,” said Jennifer Massey, a San Clemente resident. “The city will lose if taken to court and result in wasted taxpayer funds.”

Other residents supported efforts to clear the beaches of such gatherings.

George Gregory called on Christ Lutheran Church’s permit to be pulled.

“The church has their own building, they have their own property,” he said. “I’m not a man without empathy, but I am a person who is just disgusted and [has] had enough of this.”

At no point during the council discussion did a gathering come to be numerically defined.

That gave Councilman Mark Enmeier pause.

He referenced a birthday beach party for his daughter where leftover homemade cupcakes were given to a group of teenagers passing by.

“If I were to do that next summer, and this ordinance has passed, I can be ticketed,” Enmeier said. “I’m seen as breaking the law by doing that because I’m in a gathering and I’m giving food to strangers. It just seems a little bit of an overreach here to support this policy.”

He suggested that other avenues of addressing homeless issues in San Clemente, particularly at North Beach, are available to the city, including enforcement of its anti-camping ban, increasing park ranger patrols and engaging in community outreach.

Councilman Victor Cabral supported requiring a permit for food distribution and pushed back against any notion that it constituted a ban.

“This isn’t about the homeless,” he said. “It’s to protect the health and safety of the community, including the homeless.”

Councilman Zhen Wu found the notion “disingenuous” and wondered if the law would stand in court before deciding to be prudent in not supporting it.

San Clemente Mayor Steve Knoblock served as the swing vote against the ban.

“The issues of safety, security and trash can be addressed with park rangers,” he said. “People that have in their minds and hearts a desire to help people, I think we shouldn’t be hindering that at all.”

The ban failed to pass with Enmeier and Wu joining Knoblock in voting against it.