Fifty to 60 people who have been living in a tent city on the outskirts of Turlock will be forced to move come Thursday morning when Stanislaus County begins a clean-up effort of the site.

The site is under the Golden State Boulevard overpass, which is just out of the city limits. For more than a month now individuals have been setting up tents, but recently a notice was given that they had 10 days to depart the encampment.

The Stanislaus County Public Works Department posted a notice at the site stating the encampment was encroaching on the right-of-way at Golden State Boulevard and was in violation of state law. The notice was posted on Nov. 5.

The notice states: “Occupancy within the County right-of-way creates a health and safety concern for both those occupying the right-of-way, the motoring public and for the road maintenance crews from the Department of Public Works.”

The individuals living at the encampment were told they had 10 days to move out before the county cleans up the area on Thursday. The County will remove all trash and personal property that remain at the site starting at 10 a.m. Thursday.

The Turlock Gospel Mission has been doing outreach at the site with the hopes of helping the individuals camped there find shelter.

“The County did put out portable restrooms and Dumpsters, which I think the people took as a sign that they would be allowed to stay out there,” said TGM Executive Director Christian Curby. “Then they got the notice that they would have to leave.”