Gaithersburg, MD Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

Section 15A-11 sits inside Chapter 15A, which by Section 15A-2 applies to every piece of land and every building the city owns or leases, plus other land used for a city-supervised program. The camping rule itself is a single flat sentence: camping is permitted only during a city-scheduled planned activity, such as an organized overnight youth program, or under the terms of a written permit issued by the city manager or designee. There is no separate registration process for informal or unhoused camping; any tent, sleeping arrangement or overnight shelter set up on city park land outside those two circumstances is unauthorized.

The chapter's enforcement section, 15A-19, gives the city manager direct authority to act on an encampment: it lets the city cause the removal of any person acting in violation of this chapter and to remove any property, thing or device used, left unattended, or possessed in violation of this chapter. That removal authority reaches camping equipment and abandoned belongings left on park property, not just the person present. Related sanitation duties in Section 15A-4 separately make it unlawful to dump trash, waste, or refuse anywhere on city property except in a provided receptacle, a rule that would apply to debris generated at an unauthorized camp. Because Gaithersburg administers its own parks independent of Montgomery County, this cleanup authority runs through the city manager's office and the Gaithersburg Police Department, not the county.