RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - Concerns about a growing homeless encampment near Rancho Murieta surfaced during Sacramento County Supervisor Rosario Rodriguez’s first community meeting in Rancho Murieta on May 4, after Rodriguez discussed a new county ordinance allowing authorities to clear illegal camping on both public and private property.

Speaking at the Rancho Murieta Association Building, Rodriguez said Sacramento County recently strengthened its illegal camping ordinance so the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office could enforce camping restrictions on vacant private property as well as public land. She said the change was prompted by complaints about homeless encampments on large vacant lots, whose owners sometimes lived out of state or abroad.

Rodriguez said the revised ordinance, passed by the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors last November, has already helped deputies respond more quickly to encampments. 

“The sheriff’s department has reported back very positive response to them being able to now enforce camping on both private and public properties,” Rodriguez said.

The discussion prompted Rancho Murieta resident Carole Thames to raise concerns about what she described as an expanding homeless encampment off Stonehouse Road on property adjacent to the community. During the discussion, Thames displayed a poster board with aerial surveillance photographs of the encampment to Rodriguez and the audience.

Thames said the property owner had advertised campsites on Nextdoor roughly two years ago and that what began as a small number of campers had grown substantially. 

“The first year there was maybe six, probably non-street legal campers, trailers, whatever on the property,” Thames said. “Now this has multiplied.”

According to Thames, the encampment is located roughly 1,000 feet from Rancho Murieta homes and close to Stonehouse Park.

“There’s no running water; there’s no sewer. There’s nothing out there,” Thames said.

Thames also expressed concern about wildfire danger and public safety, noting that residents worry a fire at the encampment could spread into Rancho Murieta under windy conditions. 

“We don’t want to become another Pacific Palisades or Paradise or something if the wind’s blowing the wrong way,” Thames said.

Rodriguez agreed that the encampment posed potential health and fire risks, including garbage accumulation, human waste and the risk of cooking fires. She assured residents the county would investigate the matter. 

“If you contacted 311, or if you sent it to Supervisor Rodriguez, we will get on it,” Rodriguez said.

Resident Bob Keil also reported hearing gunfire in the area the previous night, which audience members said had been confirmed and was not fireworks.

Following the meeting, Thames said she continued communicating with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office about the encampment. In a social media post the following week, Thames said sheriff’s officials had believed the encampment had previously been cleared, but updated photographs she submitted on May 5 showed the site had become active again.

According to Thames, the Sheriff’s Office sent a helicopter to survey the area on May 6 after receiving her information.

In a text message sent May 15 while traveling, Thames said the Sheriff’s Office, county code enforcement and the county planning department were all scheduled to inspect the area the next week, before the River Valley Times’ May 22 publication date. 

“Things should start moving next week,” Thames wrote.