Burlington County, NJ Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

" The Board of County Commissioners amended this language on April 23, 2025 by Resolution No. 2025-00249, adopted specifically "to incorporate language regarding use of Parks facilities and encampments," so the current text targeting bedding, sleeping bags and overnight shelter set-ups reflects that 2025 update rather than the rule's original 2008 wording. Because the definition reaches any bedding material staged to allow someone to live or sleep on Parks System property overnight, it covers an informal encampment as much as a pitched tent, and it applies whether or not the person intends to stay only one night.

Parks close at approximately one-half hour after sunset under Rule 2, so an encampment discovered after closing is also a trespass on property that is no longer open to the public, layering the camping ban on top of the hours-of-operation rule. The rule carries no permit fee schedule of its own; "express permission from the County" is obtained in writing from the Board, the same authorization channel used for group facility use under Rule 7. Enforcement of an unauthorized encampment follows the standard park chain in Rules 37 and 38.