New Berlin, WI Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Sit-Lie Rules (2026)

Section 230-6 of the New Berlin Code of Ordinances prohibits standing, sitting, loafing, loitering, or engaging in sport or exercise on any public street, sidewalk, bridge, or public ground within the City in a manner that prevents or obstructs the free passage of pedestrian or vehicular traffic, or that prevents or hinders free ingress or egress to or from a place of business, amusement, church, public hall, or meeting place. The section does not set a minimum duration or require intent to obstruct; the test is whether the conduct interferes with passage or access.

The only built-in exception covers portions of a public street where barricades have been installed under Subsection B, which lets a property owner apply to the City Clerk's Office for a special event permit to close a section of street adjacent to their property for recreational use, obtain barricades from the Department of Public Works, and install them so vehicular traffic is blocked while the recreational activity is underway, with the barricades kept readily removable for emergency vehicles. That barricading exception was added by Ordinance No.

2693 on May 14, 2024, and it exists to authorize temporary neighborhood block-party-style closures, not to create a general right to occupy the sidewalk or street. Outside of a permitted, barricaded closure, the loitering prohibition applies citywide to any public street, sidewalk, bridge, or public ground.