Cherokee County, GA Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Sit-Lie Rules (2026)

Sec. 38-85(c) makes it unlawful to camp, sleep, store personal property, or sit or lie down on any public street, defined by subsection (a)(4) to include public streets and highways, sidewalks, benches, parking lots, and medians. Subsection (b) separately bars camping or storing property in a county-owned park, playground, plaza, attraction, or monument unless specifically authorized, and subsection (d) bars the same conduct anywhere on public property if it interferes with entering or exiting a building. "Camp" is defined in subsection (a)(1) to mean using a public street, sidewalk, or park for private living accommodations, such as erecting a tent, sleeping in one place for a prolonged period, or regularly cooking meals there.

Subsection (f) lists ten exceptions, covering people sitting or lying down due to a medical emergency, wheelchair users on sidewalks, parade and festival attendees, sidewalk cafe patrons, people in an orderly line for tickets, shelter entry, or social services, and children asleep in a stroller or being carried. Subsection (e) requires an oral or written warning before anyone can be arrested for violating the section; only a continued refusal to comply after that warning exposes a person to arrest. This is separate from, though it overlaps with, the general sit/lie/sleep restriction on sidewalks and crosswalks in Sec. 38-81(c).