Public Conduct in Chattanooga, TN (2026)
6 verified public conduct rules for Chattanooga, Tennessee, sourced directly from the municipal code and official government pages.
Verified from official government sources
Aggressive Panhandling
Chattanooga City Code § 25-39 bans aggressive panhandling everywhere in the city: confronting, touching, blocking or using abusive language to solicit money. Passive panhandling stays legal generally but is barred within 20 feet of ATMs, bus stops, business entrances and sidewalk cafes, and on streets, highways and narrow traffic medians, with violators facing up to $50 a day plus a possible nuisance injunction.
Chattanooga Aggressive Panhandling Ban
Significant RestrictionsChattanooga City Code § 25-39
"Aggressive begging, panhandling, or solicitation for donations" includes the following forms of conduct: i.Confronting someone in a way that would cause a reasonable person to fear bodily harm; ii.Accosting an individual by approaching or speaking to the individual or individuals in such a manner as would cause a reasonable person to fear imminent bodily harm or the commission of a criminal ac...
Skateboarding Rules
Chattanooga City Code § 25-28 bans skateboards and aggressive skates on public streets and sidewalks inside a mapped downtown zone that runs from the Tennessee River along the Southern Railway, Riverfront Parkway, Main Street, McCallie Avenue, Palmetto Street, Veterans Bridge and Market Street back to the river. The section fixes the boundary by metes and bounds rather than naming a district, and it carries no separate fine of its own.
Chattanooga Downtown Skateboard and Skate Ban
Significant RestrictionsChattanooga City Code § 25-28
It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to skate on skateboards or aggressive skates on public streets and sidewalks, in the downtown area, which is more particularly described as follows: LEGAL DESCRIPTION (map attached) BEGINNING at a point in the southeast bank of the Tennessee River, said point being the southwest corner of Parcel 4, Group B, Map 145-B, currently owned by ADM Holding...
Loitering Rules
Chattanooga makes it a $50 nuisance violation for 30 or more people to gather outside on commercial property within 200 feet of a residence between midnight and 5 a.m. without an owner present.
Chattanooga Business Lot Loitering Rule
Some RestrictionsChattanooga City Code § 25-75(a)
(a)It be and is hereby declared to be a nuisance, punishable by a fine of fifty dollars ($50.00) for an owner of commercial property to permit said property to be used in such a way that it is permitted that more than thirty (30) people are gathered on said property outside of any building between the hours of 12:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. within two hundred (200) feet of any residence if no owner, ...
Outdoor Smoking Restrictions
Smoking and vaping are banned outright in Miller Park, Chattanooga's downtown civic park, alongside skateboarding, alcohol, and open fires: there's no carved-out smoking area.
Chattanooga Miller Park Smoking Ban
Some RestrictionsChattanooga City Code § 26-57
(a)The following are prohibited within Miller Park: • Alcoholic beverages unless a temporary permit has been obtained from the Chattanooga Beer Board • Entrance to closed areas • Fires • Littering and dumping • Motorized vehicles except wheelchairs • Skateboarding or rollerblading • Pets not on a leash • Plant removal or destruction • Smoking or vaping
Jaywalking
Chattanooga pedestrians crossing outside a marked or unmarked crosswalk must yield to all vehicles, and cannot cross mid-block anywhere in a business district.
Chattanooga Jaywalking Crosswalk Rule
Some RestrictionsChattanooga City Code § 24-169
(a)Every pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway.(b)Between adjacent intersections at which traffic control signals are in operation, pedestrians shall not cross at any place except in a marked crosswalk.(c)No pedestrian shall cross a roadway o...
Public Alcohol Use
Chattanooga bans drinking alcohol or beer, or holding an open container of either, on public streets, sidewalks, parks, school grounds, public parking lots and in teen social clubs under City Code Sec. 5-68. The ban reaches private business property too, unless the owner or person in control gives permission. Violators face the Code's general penalty: a fine up to five hundred dollars, with each day of a continuing violation counted as a separate offense.
Chattanooga Public Alcohol Consumption Ban
Significant RestrictionsChattanooga City Code Sec. 5-68
(a)For the purposes of this section, "open container," means any drinking or pouring vessel, including any open or unsealed bottle, jar, can, cup, or container without a lid or with a lid but with a straw protruding therefrom or with only a partial lid, with the contents being capable of immediate consumption.(b)It shall be unlawful for any person to drink or consume any alcoholic beverage or b...
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