Meriden, CT Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Meriden's loitering rules sit in two separate chapters and cover two different situations. City Code § 153-6, part of Chapter 153's Article I general restrictions adopted from the City's 1963 Code, bans loitering upon the steps or other projection of any church, hotel, hall, or public building, or in any hall, space, or way leading to one, where it obstructs free passage into and out of the building; it also bars loitering against any fence or wall surrounding or adjoining such a building. The same article bans related conduct nearby: § 153-1 makes it unlawful to injure, deface, or soil any public or private building, fence, or enclosure, or to trespass on a garden, yard, or enclosure, and § 153-8 separately bars resisting, hindering, obstructing, vilifying, or abusing a City officer or employee in the lawful discharge of duty.

Separately, in the Streets and Sidewalks chapter, § 180-11 targets group obstruction rather than a single loiterer: it is unlawful for three or more persons to stand together or near one another on any street or sidewalk in a manner that obstructs the free passage of traffic on it, a rule adopted from the same 1963 Code alongside neighboring bans on writing on sidewalks (§ 180-8, enforceable by a set $77 citation) and depositing injurious substances in the street (§ 180-9). Neither loitering section, § 153-6 or § 180-11, states its own fine amount, leaving enforcement to the Meriden Police Department's standard citation and prosecution process.