Bloomington, IL Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

The City of Bloomington regulates camping in its public parks under Chapter 31, Section 31-605 of the City Code. Unless the Parks and Recreation Director specifically authorizes it, no person may set up a tent, shack, or any other temporary shelter for overnight camping in a Bloomington park, and no one may leave a house trailer, camp trailer, camp wagon, or similar movable structure or special vehicle in a park after closing hours if it could be used for that purpose. Camping itself is permitted only in areas the Director designates or approves in writing from time to time; there is no general right to camp anywhere in the park system.

, with different hours for Constitution Trail and Friendship Park, an unauthorized encampment set up after dark typically violates both the camping rule and the closing-hours rule at once. Park Security Officers, Parks and Recreation Department employees, and police officers enforce Chapter 31 and may issue tickets under the ticketing authority extended by Section 31-703. No specific fine is written into Section 31-605 itself, so a violation falls under the City Code's general penalty, Section 1-106: a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $500, with each day a violation continues counting as a separate offense.

Section 31-1313 confirms that violations of Chapter 31's provisions are punished under that general penalty section. The rule applies citywide to every park the City of Bloomington operates, not to the separate Town of Normal or unincorporated McLean County parks systems.