Medina, OH Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

11 makes it unlawful to camp on any public property owned by the City of Medina, naming streets, sidewalks, easements, parks, parking lots, public grounds and rights-of-way. "To camp" is defined in subsection (b) as setting up, remaining in, or at property for the purpose of sleeping, making preparation to sleep, storing personal property, or performing cooking activities for habitation purposes, so the ban reaches encampment-style use of public land, not brief daytime presence. The Parks and Recreation Director or Service Director (or a designee) can permit camping within municipal parks as a narrow carve-out.

A second exception in subsection (c) exempts a person who has no alternative lodging available, is otherwise homeless, has insufficient resources to secure alternative lodging, and cannot secure a free shelter bed within reasonable proximity to the city or an available hotel/motel voucher. That three-part test tracks the constitutional limits on criminalizing involuntary homelessness. Council adopted the current text by Ord. 175-23, passed October 23, 2023. The section carries its own escalating penalty scheme rather than deferring entirely to the general misdemeanor table, distinguishing a first offense from repeat violations.