Pleasanton, CA Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

Section 13.08.120 (Camping-Sleeping) of the Parks and Recreation Facilities chapter, in force since Ordinance 1428 in 1989, states in subsection A that "no person shall camp or lodge in a tent or on the ground in any park and recreation facility, including the parking lot area of any such facility." Subsection B separately bars staying, remaining or sleeping "in a motor home or other motor vehicle or otherwise" in a park outside of "daylight," defined in Section 13.08.020 as the half hour before sunrise to the half hour after sunset, unless the director of library and recreation grants written permission for security purposes.

Together the two subsections function as Pleasanton's camping rule for park property: no tents, no ground camping, and no overnight vehicle dwelling in any city park, trail, playground, athletic field or recreation area the city owns, leases or controls, per the facility definition in Section 13.08.020. Companion sections give park staff and police the tools that typically accompany encampment cleanup, including Section 13.08.030's bar on damaging park vegetation or property without the director's written permission and Section 13.08.070's sanitation rule requiring garbage and refuse be placed only in provided containers, with unauthorized transport of rubbish onto park land also prohibited.

The code text does not extend a citywide camping ban to sidewalks, streets or other non-park public property; by its own terms Section 13.08.120 is limited to park and recreation facility land as defined in the chapter.