October 16, 2026 working draft
Burlington Forward
What the revised proposal would do
Burlington Forward brings together proposals for public safety, help for people in crisis, and care for our shared public spaces. The resolution has changed substantially since it was introduced. Here is what remains, what has changed, and what would happen next.
What the resolution would do
The revised proposal retains a broad set of requests for City action, alongside State and regional partnership. Many provisions ask for staffing plans, legal review, or further Council decisions.
Strengthen the public-safety response
Request staffing recommendations within 60 days, continued police recruitment updates, and options for temporary assistance and City-supervised public-space response teams. Roles would remain subject to training, oversight, labor agreements, and existing legal authority.
Pair enforcement with access to help
Maintain enforcement priorities for drug trafficking, violence, and other unlawful conduct, alongside treatment, recovery, diversion, and restorative options where appropriate. The draft affirms dignity and due process and distinguishes a person’s circumstances from unlawful conduct.
Respond more promptly to prohibited encampments
Generally provide notice within 24 hours of discovery, specifying a later date for enforcement and removal. The City would make reasonable efforts to offer accessible alternatives, connect people to services, and protect personal property under its Sheltering on Public Lands Policy. The draft does not guarantee that a shelter placement will be available.
Develop alternatives for people in crisis
Seek legal advice on temporary shelter or sanctioned camping and explore a Community Stabilization and Diversion Center: a supervised place for short-term stabilization and connections to care when jail or an emergency room is not the appropriate response.
Care for shared public spaces
Continue work on maintenance, graffiti, programming, and welcoming public spaces, including a City Hall Park patio request for proposals by spring 2027. Retain public reporting on conditions and outcomes, and explore coordinated public-safety and service responses.
Seek sustained State and regional investment
Call for greater State partnership and regional responsibility for shelter, housing, treatment, and behavioral-health services, with continuing oversight and an annual meeting with State partners. The draft rejects excluding people from services or displacing them based on where they came from.
Public-health zoning provisions also remain
Sections 4.03–4.04 call for legislative zoning processes for overdose prevention centers and syringe service programs, oppose locating either within the Downtown Improvement District, and seek an accessible alternative syringe-service location with the State and providers. Passing this resolution would state those policies; changes to zoning would require a separate process.
What has changed
These are significant changes in the October working draft compared with the preceding draft. Open a topic for the practical difference.
A new proposal for stabilization and diversion
Added: Section 3.07. The Public Safety Committee would study a center offering a safe, supervised alternative to incarceration or unnecessary emergency hospitalization for people experiencing intoxication or substance-use crises. The review would address medical supervision, peer support, referral and transport, consent and protective-custody law, operators, costs, and funding. Daytime respite options would also be considered.
The committee would bring a separate proposed resolution to Council within 120 days. This starts a feasibility and policy process; it does not fund or open a facility.
The service cap and associated assessment have been removed
The earlier request to determine a maximum number of people Burlington could serve, along with the associated broader capacity assessment, is gone. The draft retains calls for State and regional investment and shared responsibility for services.
The practical change: that work is no longer framed around establishing a ceiling on the number of people served.
The park permit and service-relocation requests have been removed
The draft removes the request for a new organized-activity permit ordinance and the language calling for social-service activities to move out of City Hall Park. Those provisions should no longer be described as part of the proposal.
Public-space programming, maintenance, coordination, and existing rules remain part of the resolution.
Temporary shelter begins with legal review
Revised: Section 3.03. A request to designate temporary shelter or sanctioned camping locations within 90 days is replaced by a request for a City Attorney memo within 30 days. Earlier geographic exclusions for possible sites have been removed.
Any location would still require Council approval and operational standards covering sanitation, safety, services, belongings, and transitions to housing. The draft does not designate a site.
Encampment response has a clearer notice process
Revised: Section 3.04. The 24-hour expectation concerns providing notice after discovery of a prohibited encampment. The notice would identify a subsequent enforcement date, allowing sufficient time for alternative arrangements while protecting public health, safety, and access to public spaces.
Legal notice requirements, outreach, reasonable efforts to offer accessible alternatives, and protection and storage of property remain. If staffing is insufficient, the Administration would be asked for a plan within 60 days.
License-plate-reader limits are explicit
The draft expressly prohibits City use of Flock or similar automated license-plate-reader systems, directly or through third parties. It retains an inventory of public-safety cameras within 30 days and review of other camera uses, including privacy and civil-rights considerations.
Some reporting requests have been narrowed
The separate monthly encampment report and detailed Situation Table and City Circle questionnaire and review have been removed. Broader measures of public-space conditions and outcomes remain, along with a narrower review concerning City Circle and City ordinances.
Safeguards remain part of the proposal
Changes since introduction also include attention to systemic inequities, civil rights, affected residents’ participation, de-escalation, and oversight. These provisions carry forward in the October draft.
How people are treated matters
The draft calls for involvement by the Office of Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging, protection of dignity and civil rights, and opportunities for affected communities to participate. Enforcement must stay within existing law and due-process requirements.
Implementation takes further work
Adoption would set policy and request concrete next steps. Staffing, funding, legal requirements, service capacity, and any subsequent ordinances or facility approvals would determine how those proposals are carried out.
Read the source documents
The October 16 clean draft is the basis for this page. The tracked version shows proposed edits; the original provides the starting point.
October 16 working draft
The complete revised resolution, without tracked changes.
Read the clean draft →October 16 tracked changes
The accompanying draft showing additions and deletions.
See the tracked changes →Earlier reference: August 17 working draft. This summary focuses on substantive proposals and changes, rather than every wording edit. Committee recommendations and later amendments should be checked against the text ultimately presented to Council.
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We’ll share updates as Burlington Forward moves through the Council process.
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