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

Codified within Stonecrest's urban-camping ordinance at City Code § 16-27(c), adopted by Ordinance No. 2018-10-03, the sit-lie rule is broader than a typical downtown sidewalk ban: it makes it unlawful to camp, sleep, store personal property, sit or lie down on any "public street," and the section defines that term to sweep in public sidewalks, public benches, public parking lots and medians along with the streets themselves. Because subsection (c) sits inside the same section as the park-camping ban in subsection (b) and the ingress-and-egress rule in subsection (d), the sit-lie prohibition is enforced through the same warning-then-arrest sequence in subsection (e): an officer must give an oral or written warning to cease before anyone can be arrested for sitting or lying on a public street, and only continued noncompliance after that warning supports a charge.

Ten exceptions in subsection (f) narrow the rule considerably, protecting people sitting or lying down because of a medical emergency, wheelchair users on sidewalks, parade spectators, sidewalk-cafe patrons, people lying down at festivals, concerts or fireworks displays, anyone using a publicly or privately supplied bench, riders waiting in a bus zone, orderly ticket or entry lines, and children asleep in a stroller or being carried. Read together, the section targets sustained sitting or lying that functions as camping or an obstruction, not brief rest on a public bench or a moment spent waiting in line.