Clearwater, FL Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Sit-Lie Rules (2026)

Sec. 11, "Disorderly conduct; obstruction of public places," splits into two parts. Subsection (2), the obstruction clause, makes it unlawful for "any person after first being warned by a law enforcement officer to willfully obstruct the free, convenient, and normal use of the Pinellas County Trail or of any public or quasipublic sidewalk, curb, bicycle path, walking area, mall or that portion of private property utilized for public use, so as to endanger the safe movement of pedestrians or vehicles thereon," and separately bars willfully blocking or preventing access to the entrance of any building open to the public, again after a police warning.

The warning-first structure means a single instance of sitting or lying on a sidewalk is not itself a violation; the offense requires willful continuation after an officer directs the person to stop obstructing passage, and the standard is endangering safe pedestrian or vehicle movement rather than mere presence. Subsection (1) of the same section separately defines disorderly conduct, covering violent or tumultuous acts, property endangerment, fighting words, interference with lawful occupations, and lewd or dissolute conduct in public. The section derives from Code 1980 Sec.

14 and was amended by Ord. No. 6060-96 in 1996; it cross-references the parks and beaches chapter (ch. 22), streets and sidewalks chapter (ch. 28), and traffic chapter (ch. 30).