North Hempstead, NY Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Article III of Chapter 57, 'Loitering,' was added October 13, 2022, by Local Law No. 17-2022 to police the Town's off-street parking areas, defined in § 57-16 by cross-reference to § 83 of the Town's Uniform Traffic Code. Section 57-17 does not criminalize simply standing or sitting in a Town parking lot; it defines loitering narrowly through three alternative purposes. Under Subsection A, a person loiters if he wanders about for the purpose of tumultuous, violent or threatening conduct or remains at an assembly that has become tumultuous or violent with intent to advance that conduct.

Subsection B reaches loitering for the purpose of any activity which is intended to intimidate the public or interferes with the free passage of another. Subsection C separately targets loitering for the purpose of the consumption of alcohol in a public place in violation of any local, state or federal law, tying the parking-lot loitering ban directly to open-container violations. Section 57-18 sets the penalty at a Penal Law violation, punishable by a fine not exceeding $250 or imprisonment not exceeding 15 days, or both, and specifies that a continuing violation of § 57-17 becomes a separate and distinct offense for each day it continues, so a person who keeps returning to loiter in the same lot can be charged day by day rather than once.