Ridgewood, NJ Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

Section 215-7, added December 9, 2020 by Ordinance No. 5% by volume, and using narcotics without a valid New Jersey prescription. The section's loitering clause, subsection E, is written narrowly around the parking use itself: loitering 'for any purpose other than to park or retrieve a parked vehicle anywhere in a parking facility' is prohibited, so waiting in a stairwell, lingering on an upper level, or gathering in a parking deck for reasons unrelated to a vehicle falls within the ban. Chapter 215 pairs this parking-facility rule with a similar, narrower loitering restriction elsewhere in the Code: § 212-32 bars loitering within 25 feet of the seasonal skate park once it is closed, and § 215-6 separately bars obstructing a public street.

Section 215-2 defines 'public place' for §§ 215-3, 215-4 and 215-7 to include streets, sidewalks, curbs, municipal parking facilities, parks and playgrounds owned by the Village or the Board of Education, which is why the parking-facility loitering rule sits inside the same chapter as the Village's general public-place conduct rules in § 215-3.