Denver Mayor Mike Johnston on Friday overturned a measure passed by the City Council this week that would have stopped city agencies from clearing homeless encampments during freezing weather — the mayor’s first veto since taking office in July.

Johnston decided the legislation, while well-intentioned, “would restrict the city’s ability to do this life-saving work for approximately four months of the year,” he wrote in a letter to council members. The letter and a mayor’s office news release announcing it referenced Johnston’s House 1,000 sheltering effort, which as of Friday was providing temporary shelter for more than 1,175 people who might otherwise have been living outdoors.

The council passed its ordinance in a contentious vote Monday night. It prohibited the city’s health, public works and transportation, and police departments from removing shelters such as tents at times when temperatures were forecast to be 32 degrees or below.

Referencing testimony from medical experts, bill sponsors cast the measure as a common-sense way to prevent people who are homeless from being exposed to dangerous conditions that could increase the likelihood of frostbite or hypothermia.

But opponents described the limits on enforcing the city’s camping ban as a detriment to efforts to bring more people indoors.

The proposal passed 7-6.

Before voting against it, Councilman Darrell Watson, whose District 9 encompasses many of the downtown neighborhoods that have seen large encampments go up over the years, implored the mayor to overturn the legislation.

To overrule the mayor’s veto and reinstate the new restrictions, the council would need a nine-vote super majority. The bill is slated to be called up again at the council’s Feb. 12 meeting. It cannot be amended during that meeting but could be referred to a committee for further consideration, according to City Council central office spokesman Robert Austin.

Councilwoman Shontel Lewis, one of the measure’s four co-sponsors, indicated Friday that even if she and fellow supporters were not able to rally additional votes to overturn Johnston’s veto, they were committed to crafting legislation that limits the city’s ability to takes tents and other resources from people living outside during freezing conditions.

“I look forward to continuing to collaborate with my colleagues on council, who already support this initiative, and the mayor’s office on a version of this bill which follows the experts’ advice (and) that we can agree to pass,” Lewis said in a statement.

Johnston’s veto letter lays out five bullet-pointed reasons why the administration rejected the law change. Among them are that it would limit the effectiveness of the city’s homelessness resolution model, which hinges on both offering people shelter and shutting down encampments.

Since taking office, Johnston has tried to distinguish his approach to cleaning up homeless encampments from that of his predecessor, Michael Hancock. Those have included personally attending sweeps and letting some encampments stay in place for extended periods, while the administration raced to stand up more shelter options for people living in them.

“I want to make clear that we have not, nor intend to, do large encumbrance removals when the temperature is 32 degrees or below without housing or shelter options (available), with the exception of major public health and safety risks,” Johnston wrote in his letter.

The final vote on the bill that passed Monday was delayed last month, allowing sponsors and administration to continue to negotiate. But key sticking points were never resolved, including around just how restrictive the 32-degree threshold would be in a city where weather can fluctuate widely, even in the coldest months of the year.

Councilwoman Sarah Parady, another co-sponsor, amended the bill twice to give the administration more leeway on when enforcement actions could start and stop.

When reached for comment Friday, Parady maintained her position that enforcement can wait for a warm afternoon, rather than being carried out on a schedule that doesn’t account for weather conditions.

Lewis and Parady, among the most progressive members of the council, have strongly supported legislation related to Johnston’s House 1,000 initiative. But differences between their viewpoints and those of the more moderate mayor have been visible this week when it comes to camping ban enforcement.

Parady and Lewis were both highly critical of Johnston’s yellow vest downtown ambassador program during a briefing on Wednesday. The program relies on city employees, nonprofit staffers and contract security guards clad in city-branded yellow vests, as well as a smartphone app, to track and respond to issues downtown, including illegal camping.

Lewis, in an interview after that briefing, raised concerns about the training provided to the program’s ambassadors and about how those people will be vetted. She sees a program that is ripe for abuse.

Parady said she was proud of the strides the city had made in providing more noncongregate shelter space, but the city’s migrant and housing crises mean there are likely still thousands of people living on the streets. That’s what makes protections such as the cold weather enforcement ban necessary, she said.

“We have to acknowledge that reality and we can’t hide people to hide that reality,” she said.

Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.