Less than a day after they arrived, tent city campers who pitched tents at an Oak Bay park have been served with a notice of trespass and told to leave immediately.

Citing a local bylaw, the District of Oak Bay served a notice to cease encampment to the 15 to 20 campers who set up in the Cattle Point area of Uplands Park Thursday afternoon.

"The District of Oak Bay requires you to terminate your encampment of Uplands Park by immediately removing from Uplands Park all tents, shelters and related camping equipment," the notice read.

Camp leader Chrissy Brett said she wasn't sure what the group would do next, and that they may continue setting up their tents at the park tonight – or look for another spot in Oak Bay.

B.C.'s Supreme Court has previously ruled that homeless people can seek overnight shelter in parks as long as they move on and take down structures by 9 a.m. the next morning.

The group moved into Cattle Point Wednesday night after they were forced from a patch of provincial land next to the Pat Bay Highway in Saanich.

"What the public has said is they really didn't want us anywhere near really close houses and we're not," said Brett. "We're not near a playground. When we were here last time, we were over by the cenotaph and Oak Bay didn't like that very much so we listened, and we're back."

Some members of the group had previously camped at the Oak Bay cenotaph last year around Remembrance Day, sparking outrage from local politicans and residents.

Earlier in the day, Oak Bay police officers showed up to service notices of the local bylaw that prohibits camping in public parks – and warned campers they could be charged with mischief.

They also handed Brett an invoice for "costs associated with previous activity in Oak Bay," related to the cenotaph occupation. The invoice cited clean-up costs and remediation with a total of $1,882.65.

She replied by saying she would not pay, and would instead prepare her own invoice for Oak Bay for the cost of operating an outdoor shelter.

Campers said prior to receiving the trespass notice that they would stay at Cattle Point as long as they could.