Boulder, CO Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Sit-Lie Rules (2026)

Section 5-3-5, "Obstructing Public Streets, Places or Buildings," bars any person without legal privilege from knowingly obstructing vehicular or pedestrian movement in a public place, defined broadly to include highways, streets, alleys, walks, parking lots, buildings, parks, and private property the public is licensed to enter. The section gives obstruction unusually precise, numeric content for a sidewalk or building: "convenient" passage means enough room for a thirty-six-inch-wide wheelchair to pass at an average unobstructed pedestrian speed, and "reasonable" passage means a pedestrian should not have to pause or detour; the ordinance makes it prima facie evidence of a violation if a pedestrian had to substantially alter direction to get around a person sitting or lying in the way.

"Legal privilege" carves out waiting for transit in a designated area and working under a city construction or utility permit. The section also protects assembly and speech: no one violates it solely by gathering to hear a speaker or by being part of that gathering, and a person in a gathering only commits a violation by refusing a police officer's reasonable order to move, either to clear an obstructed street, sidewalk, or building entrance while letting the gathering's communicative purpose continue, or to disperse people from a fire or hazard.

People standing on the sidewalk along a permitted parade route are also exempt under Subsection (f), unless they refuse a police order to clear a pedestrian lane.