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City Council adopts revised urban camping ordinance with 90-minute threshold and service partner
Summary
Stone Mountain’s City Council approved Ordinance 2026-03, changing the urban camping threshold to 90 consecutive minutes and emphasizing outreach and service referrals through a county-partnered nonprofit. The vote was unanimous.
The Stone Mountain City Council approved Ordinance 2026-03 on a unanimous roll call, adopting a revised urban camping rule that raises the allowable consecutive camping threshold to 90 minutes and formalizes partnerships with outreach providers.
The ordinance, presented at second reading as a public-safety measure, frames the rule as a tool to preserve public order, sanitation and equitable access to parks and sidewalks while directing enforcement to be used only as a last resort. “Mental illness and homelessness are not crimes. Let me repeat that. They are not crimes,” the public-safety presenter said in opening remarks, adding that the city’s response model prioritizes voluntary compliance, warnings and connections to services.
Council was joined by a representative of Front Line, a county-partnered outreach organization. Front Line’s speaker described a continuum of services the city can deploy in the field, including 24-hour hotline support, emergency housing placement, warming and cooling centers and longer-term case management. “We start with outreach and prevention,” the representative said, outlining shelter and transition services and saying the organization works to avoid criminal penalties by stabilizing people and connecting them to services.
Key changes announced since the ordinance’s first reading include raising the consecutive-camping threshold from 60 to 90 minutes and clarifying definitions so that ordinary park uses such as picnics or family gatherings are not covered. The ordinance also clarifies that persons seated on benches are permitted provided they are not lying down or sleeping.
Council members asked about officer training and on-the-ground discretion. Staff said annual Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) and grants supporting response teams will continue to inform officer interactions, and emphasized that enforcement is intended to follow outreach and service efforts.
Following discussion, a council member moved to approve the ordinance, which passed unanimously in a roll-call vote. The council’s decision pairs the revised code language with an explicit partnership model and outreach resources intended to reduce homelessness-related calls and limit enforcement to persistent violations that materially impede public access.
