New Aurora City Council member Rob Andrews proposed a resolution that, if passed at a future regular council meeting, would bring back the requirement for a 72-hour notice before homeless encampment sweeps.

In February 2025, Aurora lawmakers got rid of requirements to provide shelter options and a 72-hour notice before sweeps.

The decision followed a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Eighth Amendment’s cruel and unusual punishment clause does not prohibit the enforcement of a rule prohibiting camping on public property, according to the language of the ordinance.

In a Housing, Neighborhood Services and Redevelopment Policy Committee meeting Tuesday, committee members moved forward with a resolution that would add the 72-hour notice rule back to the camping ordinance.

Andrews’ resolution states that city officials “shall provide advance notice prior to abating an unauthorized camp.”

“Advance notice shall be provided no fewer than 72 hours before the scheduled abatement,” the resolution states.

If the encampment presents an imminent public health or safety risk or is on CDOT property, the notice is not required, the resolution said.

Mayor pro tem Alison Coombs said there are a “number of benefits” of giving notice.

“We can give people the opportunity to leave if that’s what they want to do instead of being more surprised,” Coombs said. “It also gives people the opportunity to prepare themselves and make the decision if they want to go to the navigation campus and accept services.”

Councilmember Angela Lawson said she sees the resolution as “just a slow repeal of the camping ban,” saying she supported it going forward to a study session for more councilmembers to review, but did not support the actual resolution.

Councilmember Stephanie Hancock also said she worries that the resolution is a “regression” of the current camping ban.

“I believe that restoring the 72-hour notice requirement would undermine Aurora’s ability to maintain safe neighborhoods,” Hancock said. “This is a way to undo the camping ban is just chipping at it one drop at a time … we will not be safer.”

The resolution from Andrews also adds a section on adverse weather, stating that camp abatements can be postponed or canceled due to extreme adverse weather conditions or other “extraordinary circumstances.”

Under the previous City Council, Aurora officials moved forward with what the mayor has called a “tough love” approach to homelessness, enacting a camping ban, alongside starting a court system to address low-level offenses by homeless people.

The city’s “tough love” approach measures success by employment and self-sufficiency, rather than how many people are taken off the streets, city officials have said.

The approach included the creation of a Regional Navigation Campus, 15500 E. 40th Ave., which opened as a “one-stop shop” for homeless services in November.

Councilmembers moved forward with the resolution in Tuesday’s meeting and it will go to the full council in its next study session.