BANGOR — Residents of Bangor’s homeless encampment will need to leave by Friday.

The update comes after public pushback to the Dec. 19 closure and the city council’s pause on that date just last week.

City Manager Carollynn Lear told councilors at a Government Operations Committee meeting Monday night that the railroad company that owns a portion of the land that the encampment is on is sticking to the original deadline.

“They have indicated that they would like people to be off their property by the nineteenth,” Lear said following the meeting. “And, as the city would with any private property owner who had someone on their property that they did not want to be there, we are going to assist in that process.”

The company is question is CSX, a freight railroad, according to the Bangor Daily News.

The encampment sits along the railroad tracks behind Penobscot Plaza. During Monday’s meeting, a business owner from the plaza expressed her frustration with the encampment.

“I think that it’s important for us to also be a part of this consideration into how our businesses are being affected,” said Christina Paradis, co-owner of Hero's Sports Grill & Entertainment Center. “I have people who have point-blank looked at me and said, ‘we won’t come here after seven o’clock at night because it’s dark and we don’t feel comfortable if we can’t park in front of the door.’”

Residents of the encampment previously told Spectrum News that they needed more time when asked about the Dec. 19 deadline.

Councilor Michael Beck said he is planning to speak with members of the encampment Tuesday.

“This date is no longer in our hands,” said Beck. “The goal here is to mitigate chaos.”

Bangor Director of Public Health and Community Services Jennifer Gunderman estimated that the encampment was down to around 12 tents as of Monday.

Lear said the city will direct them to warming shelters and offer storage options, so they don’t lose their belongings.  

“The warming shelters are the primary option, and I think our goal will be to sort of reduce the barriers that exist to folks selecting that option,” said Lear

While the railroad owns a portion of the land the encampment sits on, the city owns another portion.

However, Lear said during Monday’s meeting that allowing encampment residents to stay on the city-owned portion, an option discussed in previous meetings, would not be feasible.

The agenda for Monday’s meeting also initially included plans to talk about a potential advisory committee that would advise the council on a homelessness response strategy. However, the meeting ran until roughly 9 p.m., and the item was tabled.

“I think the next steps are really to frame out the structure for a committee, as well as what the task of the committee will be going forward,” said Lear.

Lear added that the railroad also plans to send a crew to clean up trash and discarded items at the encampment on Dec. 22.