Vestavia Hills, AL Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

Sec. 12-1(a)(6) is part of the Wald Park rules and regulations: it flatly prohibits golf, archery, glass containers, camping, open fires, dumping, fireworks and noisemakers inside the park. The same clause, word for word or nearly so, reappears at Sec. 12-2(a)(6) for Liberty Park Sports Complex, Sec. 12-4(b)(6) for Cahaba Heights Park, Sec. 12-7(b)(6) for the Sicard Hollow Athletic Complex and Sec. 12-8(b)(6) for Meadowlawn Park, so the camping and dumping ban is not limited to one park but runs across the city's named recreational properties.

There is no separate encampment ordinance or camp-cleanup protocol in the code; the mechanism is simply that camping, open fires and dumping are unlawful uses of park property, enforced the same way as any other park-rule violation. A person who sets up camp, lights a fire or dumps refuse in a city park is a violator under Sec. 12-1(b): a misdemeanor punishable in accordance with Code of Alabama 1975, Sec. 11-45-9, with each day of continued violation treated as a separate offense. Sec. 12-1(a)(13) also lets parks and recreation staff or police simply order a violator to leave the premises rather than wait for a citation, which is the practical first step used against anyone camped out in a park after hours.

and other parks close at sunset, someone still present and camping after closing is independently subject to the after-hours penalty as well as the camping ban itself.