Wilmington, NC Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Encampment Sanitation (2026)

Section 7-5(a) of the Wilmington City Code lists fourteen prohibited activities in city parks and recreational facilities, and subsection (9) specifically targets encampment-style conduct: sleeping, camping, or otherwise staying overnight, plus lying or sleeping on benches or tables, unless authorized by permit or as part of a program the city itself sponsors. , and pedestrians on the Riverwalk. Subsection (b) lets the city manager adopt further rules for park administration, subject to city council approval, and those rules must be posted at the facility and kept on file with the city clerk.

Subsection (a)(13) separately bars refusing to leave when told to do so by the person in charge, which functions as a backstop against anyone who ignores the overnight ban once confronted. 00 civil penalty per offense collectible as a civil debt, Section 7-5(c) expressly overrides that default and makes any violation of the whole section, including the overnight-stay clause, a criminal misdemeanor.