Issaquah, WA Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

The word loitering does not appear anywhere in the Issaquah Municipal Code or Land Use Code text. The rule that reaches standing in someone's way is the disorderly conduct section, IMC 9.70.010, which lists five ways a person is guilty of disorderly conduct. Subsection C is the obstruction clause: intentionally obstructing vehicular or pedestrian traffic without lawful authority. The other four are using abusive language and thereby intentionally creating a risk of assault (A), intentionally disrupting any lawful assembly or meeting without authority (B), intentionally and without lawful authority making noise which unreasonably disturbs another (D), and intentionally engaging in any conduct which tends to or does disturb the public peace, provoke disorder, or endanger the safety of others (E).

Every clause turns on intent, and the obstruction clause also turns on the absence of lawful authority. A person standing on a sidewalk is not covered unless the obstruction is intentional. Permits are one source of lawful authority: under IMC 5.14.050(A)(4), a special event permit that partly obstructs a sidewalk or walkway must leave a minimum of 3 feet unobstructed at all times.

A second provision covers staying put on public land. IMC 9.60.050 says that whenever a police officer has a reasonably well founded suspicion based on specific and articulable facts that a person in a public park or on other public property has engaged or is engaging in criminal activity, the officer can order the individual to leave the area. An individual who fails to abide by the order is guilty of a misdemeanor. The trigger is suspected criminal activity, not presence alone.

Section 9.70.010 prints no penalty of its own and does not name a grade of offense. Chapter 9.70 does not set one either, so the general classes in IMC 1.06.010 apply according to how the offense is designated.