SAINT JOSEPH, Mich. -- The Berrien County Commissioners approved updates to the Berrien County Parks Ordinance on July 10th, which went into effect for all 7 park locations Fri.
The last time the ordinance was amended was in 2017. The Berrien County Sheriff, Chuck Heit, said the updates give clearer definitions and enforcement guidelines within the written ordinance.
“Silver beach is a great place to visit; it’s a family park. Our job is to keep it that way. So, even though we’ve only had three incidents, one is too many… it just gives our staff the ability to try and deal with some of the issues we’ve seen,” said Heit.
Some of the ordinance updates include clarifications on which violations are misdemeanors, and which are civil infractions, what the penalties are for each violation, and describes nuisance gatherings while outlining the violations for disturbing the peace.
“It’ll allow for our staff to evict someone if they’re violating the ordinance, and then one of the bigger things is it allows for a trespass of 12 months. Someone who has not followed or chosen not to follow the rules… they can be trespassed for 12 months from any county park, so this is ordinance number eight, but it effects all county parks,” said Heit.
To view the full updates, click here.