Old Bridge, NJ Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

Chapter 93 of the Old Bridge Township Code, adopted by Ordinance No. 36-87 in 1987, defines a CAMPSITE broadly under § 93-1 as any place where any bedding, sleeping bag or other sleeping matter is placed, established or maintained, whether or not it uses a tent, lean-to, shack, other structure, or a vehicle. Section 93-2 then makes it unlawful for a person to camp upon any Township sidewalk, street, alley, lane, park, public right-of-way or any other place to which the general public has access, or under any bridgeway or viaduct, covering the public rights-of-way most relevant to encampment cleanups.

The section carves out two exceptions: camping the Code otherwise specifically authorizes, and camping the Mayor authorizes by declaration during an emergency. It also expressly does not reach designated campsites inside a state park. Before police can enforce the ban, § 93-3 requires a warning: no person shall be convicted of violating the chapter unless the person continues to camp for more than five minutes after receiving a warning to leave, and that warning may come from a police officer or any Township employee or officer, giving Public Works and Parks staff a role alongside the Old Bridge Police Department in clearing a site.

Violations are punished under § 93-4, which points to the general penalty in Chapter 1, Article II, with each day of continued camping treated as a separate offense. The five-minute warning requirement functions as the Township's basic due-process step before any encampment enforcement or removal action, distinguishing a lawful cleanup from an immediate arrest.