An effort is underway to clear away homeless encampments throughout the 4-mile-wide Sepulveda Basin and to enforce existing laws that restrict staying past sunset in the areas of the park under the city’s control, according to Councilwoman Nury Martinez.

Martinez, whose district includes most of the Sepulveda Basin area, said Tuesday that an encampment cleanup that began this week is part of a larger effort that her office has been coordinating over the past several months to address the persistence of homeless encampments at the basin, which authorities say was not built for or intended for human habitation.

The councilwoman first announced the effort in a statement last week, after a fire broke out in a large homeless encampment in the northwest portion of the Sepulveda Basin. The fire happened just before a planned cleanup in the same general area that launched Monday and is expected to last a week or less.

While there were no casualties from the fire, Martinez said in an interview with the Los Angeles Daily News that “we’d be having a very different conversation had someone gotten hurt in last week’s fire.”

“For one, you would have held me responsible had someone gotten hurt,” Martinez said. “God forbid someone got hurt. Thank goodness no one did.”

As of Tuesday, the cause of the fire is still under investigation, according to a spokesman for the fire department.

Martinez also noted in a written statement Tuesday that a grenade was found during the cleanup, and pointed to it as “further proof that this is a major public safety issue that must be dealt with.”

The city has the ability to enforce a law that bars staying on park property past sunset and before the sun rises. Martinez said in an interview that “sporadic” cleanups have been done in the past, but homeless encampments inevitably return to the basin.

Martinez said that this time around there are commitments from other city departments to ensure enforcement is done in collaboration with the clean-up efforts led by the Recreation and Parks and the Sanitation Departments.

“I feel confident we’re finally going to have a coordinated effort to keep this place clean and safe,” she said.

Martinez did not provide details about what additional enforcement resources being provided, but she said the “LAPD has also agreed to provide assistance for the foreseeable future.”

The cleanup that commenced this week is expected to be among the simpler ones to coordinate. Martinez said that future cleanups will require working with state and federal agencies, including the Army Corps of Engineers that owns the Sepulveda Basin. Some encampments are located in or around waterways where there are different regulations and agencies in charge, aides with Martinez’s office said.

The Los Angeles Police Department has enforcement jurisdiction over much of the basin due to a lease agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers.

Army Corps of Engineers officials said Tuesday that they support Martinez’s cleanup efforts, with the emphasis that the basin is not built for human habitation, because it is meant to be a flood control basin.

“We support those efforts as far as removing the encampments, because it makes the (Sepulveda Dam) project that much better and more effective for the public, just to serve its actual purpose,” said Army Corps spokesman Luciano Vera.

Lillian Doherty, chief of the Army Corps’ operations division, added that for those who are living in the encampment, there is a need to be aware of the dangers of sudden, flash downpours quickly filling up the basin with water.

“We’re coming up upon flood season soon,” Doherty said. “Please be cognizant that there may not be a lot of notice. If they are starting to hear alerts … please be cognizant those alerts are there for a reason.”

Her message to those who are living in the basin: “Please get out of the basin for their own safety.”

Martinez said Tuesday that the Sepulveda Basin also functions as a “public park.”

“It is illegal to live and sleep in a public park,” she said. “Everyone should feel safe to enjoy the park.”

City Controller Ron Galperin said in a 2017 report that the city has greater authorities to enforce regulations that prevent people from living at parks. The city’s parks-related ordinance, 63.44, already contains provisions that bar putting up tents outside of designated campground areas, and staying past closing time, he wrote.

Enforcing these rules “will improve the aesthetics of public parks, and potentially avoid health risks associated with entrenched homeless encampments,” Galperin’s report said.

But Galperin’s report also raised concerns that “enforcing LAMC (Los Angeles Municipal Code) 63.44 will potentially result in pushing encampments outside of parks, and the city would unintentionally encourage encampments to be erected in other public areas, resulting in potential blocking ADA access.

“Additionally, more resources will have to be provided to RAP (Recreation and Parks) to enforce park regulations and coordinate with LASAN (Los Angeles Sanitation) to process and remove hazardous material,” the report said.

The cleanup in the Sepulveda Basin this week, and future ones in the works, have been and will be accompanied by outreach efforts from social workers with homeless organizations, such as LA Family Housing and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, officials said.

Meanwhile, ongoing outreach has led to some accepting shelter, services and housing.

Some former residents of the homeless encampments being cleaned told the Los Angeles Daily News anecdotally this week that they are seeking out other places to bed down, including near freeways and homes in Encino, along the Los Angeles River and in other wildlife areas near communities like Porter Ranch.

While the Sepulveda Basin is in Martinez’s mostly East Valley district, it is surrounded for the most part by communities like Encino that are overseen by other City Council offices. Lake Balboa, which is north of the basin, is within Martinez’s district.