New Britain, CT Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

Chapter 17, Article III's park-use rules do not create a homeless-encampment permit; they restrict camping to designated areas and a narrow group of permit holders. Sec. 17-43(d) states flatly that no person shall camp in areas in any park other than those designated for camping and unless a special permit has been obtained from the board of park and recreation commissioners or its authorized agent, such permits to be issued only to organized youth groups. That means an adult or a general member of the public cannot obtain a camping permit at all; designated camping is reserved for organized youth groups such as scouting troops.

Sec. 17-37(a)(5) separately lists camping activities among the uses that require relief from the regulations of the article through the board's permit process, reinforcing that unpermitted camping anywhere in a park is unauthorized. Sanitation rules in Sec. 17-44 require anyone using a park to keep restrooms sanitary, prohibit dumping bottles, ashes, garbage or refuse in a park, and require trash to be carried out when no receptacle is provided, obligations that would fall on any campsite left in a park. Because Article III does not write its own fine for a Sec.

17-43 violation, Sec. 1-15's general penalty applies: a fine of up to $150.00, with each day the unlawful camping continues treated as a separate offense, enforced alongside the city's park regulations by the department of parks and recreation and police.