February 2021 - Parks & Recreation - 27

individual Plaintiffs and one organizational Plaintiff. The individual
Plaintiffs in this action are six individuals experiencing unsheltered
homelessness in Hennepin County,
Minnesota, including four individuals who currently are not living
on public land and two individuals
who currently are doing so, within
the City of Minneapolis park system. The organizational Plaintiff,
Zakah, Aid and Charity Assisting
Humanity (ZACAH), is a private
nonprofit organization staffed by
unpaid volunteers with a mission
to provide financial assistance to
residents of Minnesota who are on
the verge of experiencing homelessness.

COVID-19 Emergency
Orders
On April 8, 2020, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz issued Emergency Executive Order 20-33, which
states: " Encampments should not
be subject to sweeps or disbandment by state or local governments,
as such sweeps or disbandment increase the potential risk and spread
of COVID-19. "
On April 29, 2020, Governor
Walz issued Emergency Executive
Order 20-47, which clarified Emergency Executive Order 20-33 with
respect to encampments, noting
that " both new and existing encampments should not be subject
to sweeps or disbandment by state
or local governments. " State or local governments, however, could
" restrict, limit or close encampment spaces " if " an encampment
has reached a size or status that is
a documented threat to the health,
safety or security of residents. " To
do so, however, a local government
entity must have been " providing

sufficient alternate housing, shelter
or encampment space that complies with the Minnesota Department of Health's guidance and the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention's (CDC's) guidance
(i.e., Responding to COVID-19
Among People Experiencing Unsheltered Homelessness). "
On May 13, 2020, Governor
Walz issued Emergency Executive
Order 20-55, which reiterated the
guidance to encampments set forth
in Emergency Executive Order 2047.

Park Refuge Resolutions
The MPRB manages the City of
Minneapolis park system. On
June 17, 2020, the MPRB adopted Resolution 2020-253 declaring
Minneapolis parks to be a refuge
space for persons experiencing unsheltered homelessness. On July
15, 2020, the MPRB adopted Resolution 2020-267, which limited
the number of Minneapolis parks
that could be refuge sites to 20 and
limited the number of tents located
at each site to 25 through a permit
process.
In August and September 2020,
Minneapolis Park Police disbanded one of several Powderhorn
Park encampments, along with the
encampments at Peavy Park, Kenwood Park and Elliot Park. Further, the MPRB had issued public
statements that " due to health and
safety concerns, the MPRB will not
be extending temporary encampment permits into cold weather,
anticipated to be sometime in
October. "

Motion for Temporary
Restraining Order
Plaintiffs commenced their law-

suit on October 19, 2020, alleging
that Defendants unlawfully seized
Plaintiffs' property in violation of
the Fourth Amendment guarantee
against unreasonable searches and
seizures, as well as violations of
due process rights guaranteed by
the 14th Amendment.
In their lawsuit, Plaintiffs also
filed a motion for a temporary restraining order " to prevent Defendants from taking certain actions
against individuals who are experiencing unsheltered homelessness
and living in public parks in Minneapolis and throughout Hennepin
County, " which included:
(1) clearing encampments in
public parks within Hennepin
County, (2) seizing Plaintiffs'
property and the property of the
putative class members [i.e., affected homeless individuals] without
adequate pre-deprivation notice,
and (3) destroying Plaintiffs' property and the property of the putative class members.
In particular, Plaintiffs were seeking a temporary restraining order
from the federal district court, " enjoining Defendants from sweeping
encampments in violation of Executive Order 20-47 signed by Governor Walz on April 29th. "

Temporary Restraining
Order Factors
As cited by the court, the " Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(b)
authorizes a district court to grant
injunctive relief in the form of a
temporary restraining order. " In
determining whether this " extraordinary remedy " is warranted, the
federal district court would consider the following four factors as applied to the " movant, " in this case
the Plaintiffs:

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February 2021 - Parks & Recreation

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