Burleson, TX Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

The core rule is § 54-34 of the Burleson Code of Ordinances, titled Sleeping in public places, and it has three sentences. The first bars sleeping in any public square, street, sidewalk, alley, public parking lot, or other public place. The second extends the same ban to sleeping in a motor vehicle parked in any of those places, so a car parked on a street or in a public lot is covered. The third bars sleeping in any doorway or vacant building not the person's own, with one exception: the owner's permission. The history line shows the section was amended by Ord. No. CSO#1134-09-2019 on 10-7-2019, and it derives from Ord. No. B-7, art. XIII, § 26, 5-11-1959.

Parks have their own, narrower rules. Section 58-17 provides that no person shall camp or stay overnight in a public park, except as part of an activity sponsored by the parks department. Parks and recreation areas are open to the public from 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. unless the director posts other hours (§ 58-8(b)), and § 58-5(c) makes it unlawful to leave a vehicle, including trailers, parked within a city park after it closes without a permit from the director, who can have the vehicle towed or removed at the registered owner's expense. Section 58-12(a)(3) bars storing or stockpiling any equipment, material or product on park property, and § 58-9 prohibits depositing litter in a park except in public receptacles.

The sections quoted here set prohibitions. None of them prints a notice period, a storage procedure for belongings, or a cleanup schedule, and the park rules are administered by the parks and recreation director. Section 58-25 adds that it is unlawful to remain in a park, community center, or recreation area after a parks employee or peace officer has advised you that you are disrupting the orderly conduct of a program and has asked you to leave.