Fountain Valley, CA Curfew Laws: Park Curfew (2026)

Fountain Valley Municipal Code § 12.08.120 is the park curfew. It does two things. First, it prohibits anyone from being in any city park after its posted closing time or closing event. Second, it moves the actual hours out of the code: city park closing times or closing events are set by a separate council resolution. The code text prints no clock times, so the hours for a given park come from that resolution and from the posted signs.

The closing event language matters. A park can close at a clock time or at the end of a scheduled event, and the ordinance treats both the same way once the closing point has passed. The only exception is written approval obtained beforehand from the community services department. Approval after the fact does not satisfy the text.

Three companion sections in Chapter 12.08 fill in what happens after closing. Section 12.08.095 bars storing or leaving personal property in a city park after its posted closing time or closing event without written permission from the city manager, community services director, or city council. The city may remove that property and stores it for sixty calendar days unless it is abandoned or cause exists to dispose of it immediately. Section 12.08.100(c) prohibits leaving a vehicle parked in any park between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. of the following day unless the owner is attending an authorized activity, and unattended vehicles may be towed with removal and storage costs charged to the owner. Section 12.08.090 prohibits camping in public parks except in specially designated areas with the written permission of the community services director.

Section 12.08.030 defines "park" as all recreational and other public land owned, operated, managed or controlled by the City of Fountain Valley, including buildings, parking lots and improvements, so the curfew reaches parking lots and buildings on park land. The City Council last amended the curfew section in 2019.