Marietta, GA Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

Marietta's anti-camping rule sits in Chapter 10-4 of the General Offenses part of the Code of Ordinances. Section 10-4-030 makes it unlawful to camp or build a fire in the streets, public square, or any public park, or upon any other public property anywhere within the city limits: a flat, citywide ban with no permit process and no exception for daytime versus nighttime use. The section traces back to the 1952 and 1978 codes and was most recently amended by Ordinance No. 8435 on March 12, 2025.

On the same date the council adopted a companion measure, Section 10-4-035, extending the prohibition to private land: nobody but the property's owner, leaseholder, or other rightful occupant may camp, sleep, reside, store personal property, or lie upon it without that owner's or leaseholder's consent, and any use the owner does authorize still has to conform to the rest of the Marietta Code. Neither section carries its own fine schedule, so both are enforced through Section 10-4-160, the chapter's general penalty: a fine of not more than $500 or imprisonment of not more than six months, for each violation.

Marietta Police Department officers write the citations; cases are heard in Marietta Municipal Court. Because the private-property version reaches campers and stored belongings alike, it functions as the city's tool for clearing informal encampments on vacant lots as well as public rights-of-way.