Dane County officials and members of the Occupy Madison movement continued to clash after the protest group moved back onto a public campground last week.

Members of the Dane County Board spoke out against Occupy Madison after the camp moved to Lake Farm Park just outside Madison on April 16, according to County Parks Division Director Darren Marsh. 

After several issues regarding compliance with campground rules, Dane County Board members raised concerns on the relationship between the county and the Occupy members and spoke out in favor of allowing the group to continue staying in the park in a letter sent to county Land and Water Resources Director Kevin Connors and Marsh. 

When the group moved into the campground, park officials explained its rules, Marsh said. He said he explained the campground does not allow more than one tent per campsite and Occupy Madison members had at least four on each site. They also did not follow the registration rules, he said.

Occupy members were then given a notice to move out or comply with the rules of the campground, he said. After asking Occupy members to comply with campground rules, Marsh said the county gave the campers a notice to either move to a group campground in the park or move out completely. 

Rather than move to the group campground, several Occupy members decided to move out, Marsh said. Several remained and filled one large tent on each site in compliance with the campground rules, he said.

“We treat them as we would treat everyone else,” Marsh said. “We have given them much more latitude to come into compliance with park rules than we give most groups.”

The Occupy members still camping in Lake Farm Park may face another challenge, however, because the maximum amount anyone can legally stay in a county campground is 14 days, Marsh said. Campers must leave the park for 48 hours before they can return, he said. 

Marsh explained the 14-day rule is placed to protect the environmental integrity of the campground.

“If you stay on a site for 14 days, that site is having tremendous amount of impact when you are on it for that long,” Marsh said. “If you have four or five tents on a campground, the grass underneath needs to re-energize and regrow.”

One of the signers of the letter, Dane County Supervisor Leland Pan, District 5, said the homeless have no legal place to stay overnight in the city, and the park is a temporary solution.

Pan said he signed the letter because he wanted to encourage the parks division to be more lenient and let the Occupy members stay in the park until they can find a more permanent solution.

In response to the letter, Marsh and Connors issued a statement, and said that campers could remain in the park past 14 days, provided they stay in compliance with the other campground rules.

Pan said this is a positive development for the Occupy group.

“This is a good step forward; at least they can stay there,” Pan said. “Next step would be to see if there can be a relaxing of some camping rules temporarily.”