MORGANTOWN — Signatures collected in an effort to repeal Morgantown’s newly adopted camping ban are in the possession of City Clerk Christine Wade.
Wade’s office now has 20 days to verify those signatures.
Morgantown Communications Director Brad Riffee told The Dominion Post the names were dropped off at around 4:50 p.m. Thursday afternoon, just ahead of the 30-day deadline.
The camping ban ordinance was adopted in the early morning hours of Sept. 4 as the main event of a seven-hour Morgantown City Council meeting.
That day, a committee of petitioners initiated the process of repealing the law.
According to the city’s procedure, the signatures must be collected and filed with the clerk’s office within 30 days of the adoption of the ordinance in question.
The signatures collected must equal at least 10% of the total number of qualified voters registered to vote in the last municipal election.
In April 2023, Wade told The Dominion Post there were 13,487 voters registered in the city based on the most recent data, putting the needed number of signatures at 1,348.
In a Friday morning press release, the Morgantown Coalition for Housing Action (MoCHA), the group organizing the repeal effort, said it needed 1,309 signatures but turned in a little more than 2,000.
Once the petition is filed with the clerk, the challenged ordinance is suspended from taking effect while the signatures are checked.
At the end of the verification process, if the petitioners are short of the 10% threshold, they can file to amend the petition, starting a 10-day window to collect the needed number.
The suspension is lifted if the petition is determined insufficient by the clerk’s office, or the committee of petitioners withdraws it.
If the petition is found sufficient, council will “promptly” reconsider the ordinance by voting its repeal.
If council fails to repeal the ordinance within 30 days after the petition is deemed valid, the issue will go before the city’s voters, likely as part of the April 2025 municipal election.
“The camping ban ordinance criminalizes homelessness. Individuals sleeping outside on public property in city limits would be fined and potentially jailed for sleeping outdoors, even with nowhere to go,” MoCHA’s press release states. “Morgantown only has enough low-barrier shelter space to serve roughly a quarter of the unhoused and unsheltered community.”
