Appleton, WI Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Section 10-40 of the Appleton Municipal Code creates a general loitering offense that applies to any person, unlike the age-restricted curfew loitering rule in § 10-36. Subsection (a) defines loitering the same way the curfew section does: remaining idle in essentially one location, including spending time idly, being dilatory, lingering aimlessly, staying, sauntering, delaying, standing around, or hanging around. It defines roadway by cross-reference to Wis. 01(22), as the portion of a highway between the regularly established curb lines, or the portion improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular travel or parking, so the ban covers the traveled street and parking areas but not sidewalks or boulevards outside that curb line.

Subsection (b) states the operative prohibition in a single sentence: it is unlawful for any person to loiter in or upon any roadway. The section was adopted by Ord. 91-93 in 1993 and, unlike most Chapter 10 offenses, states its own penalty clause rather than defaulting silently: subsection (c) directs that a violator shall be penalized pursuant to § 1-16 of this Code, the Code's general forfeiture schedule, so enforcement runs through the same first-offense and repeat-offense forfeiture ranges as other miscellaneous Chapter 10 offenses.