Boulder, CO Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

Section 5-6-10, commonly called Boulder's camping ban, works as a strict permission rule rather than a sanitation or cleanup ordinance. Subsection (a) flatly bars camping on any city-owned park, parkway, recreation area, open space, or other city property, no permission process is offered for those locations at all. Subsection (b) is more flexible for everywhere else: camping on other public property or on private property is allowed only with prior permission, from the authorized officer in charge of that public property, or from the private property's owner.

"Camp" is defined narrowly in Subsection (d): residing or dwelling temporarily in a place, with shelter, while conducting daily-living activities such as eating or sleeping there; the definition specifically excludes daytime napping and picnicking, and "shelter" means any cover or protection from the elements other than clothing, which is what lets the city treat a tent, tarp, or lean-to as camping while a person resting on a bench is not. Subsection (c) exempts any lawful "dwelling" in the city as defined in Section 5-1-1, so the ban targets unauthorized outdoor camping, not housed residents.

Subsection (e) gives the city an evidentiary shortcut: testimony from an agent who grants permission, or who would know of it through their duties, that no permission was given is prima facie evidence of that fact. The section contains no separate sanitation, notice, or belongings-storage protocol; cleanup and outreach around encampments are handled administratively rather than in this text. A citation is prosecuted in Boulder Municipal Court under the Title 5 general penalty in Section 5-2-4: a fine of up to $2,650 per violation, up to ninety days in jail, or both.