Pender County, NC Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Section 26-9(b), part of the Pender County Solid Waste Management Ordinance adopted by resolution August 21, 2023, lists restrictions that apply specifically at the county's solid waste convenience centers. Item (10) makes it unlawful for any person to loiter, congregate, or leave any vehicle unattended at a convenience center, and pairs that prohibition with a liability disclaimer stating the county is not liable for damage or injury to personal property or persons resulting from use of a center. The rule sits alongside other convenience-center-specific restrictions in the same subsection, including a ban on entering outside posted operating hours (item 2), a requirement to display a county-issued decal (item 3), and a ban on scavenging or removing deposited items (item 4).

Because the loitering prohibition is written into the solid waste chapter rather than a freestanding public-conduct or trespass ordinance, it applies only at convenience centers and the transfer station system Section 26-9 governs, not to sidewalks, parks or other public property generally. Section 26-5 gives the county's solid waste officer, an environmental enforcement officer, authority to enforce this and the rest of Chapter 26 by civil penalties and any other remedy available in law or equity.