Portland Park Rules (Title 20) Update

Promoting safety in parks

Park Rangers are non-sworn, non-law enforcement safety staff. They provide a positive public safety presence and reduce the need for police intervention on civil, non-criminal issues occurring in parks. The City employs full-time Park Rangers that patrol year-round and seasonal Park Rangers that work during the peak spring and summer seasons.

Portland Park Rangers patrol nearly 12,000 acres in 280+ parks across the City morning, noon, and night. They visit parks daily, plus they respond to calls from park visitors or staff regarding concerns. Most often, Park Rangers address issues where park resources are damaged and issues that affect visitor experiences—issues like trash dumping, permit disputes, drinking or drug use, behavior issues, and other nuisance problems that do not involve threats or weapons. 

Typically, Park Rangers work to educate visitors and gain voluntary compliance when confronted with park rule violations. Currently, they are authorized to issue ejections and exclusions, along with citations to visitors violating dog off-leash or scoop laws, when necessary. 

Park rule update

Title 20 of the Portland City Code covers park rules that protect park resources and ensure a safe visitor experience. 

Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) staff engaged with internal stakeholders, including Park Rangers, teams in our Land Stewardship and Natural Areas work units, and the PP&R Parks Board to review current rules. Reviews focused on: 

• Rules needing additional authority, 
• Rules confusing to visitors and staff, and
• Rules needing updates to keep pace with park use patterns or behaviors.

What's changing

The changes to Title 20 focus on removing outdated and conflicting rules, re-writing and re-organizing rules to make them easier to understand, and adding new rules to address new technology, like drones. The updated rules also give authority to the City Administrator to issue civil penalties for certain park rule violations.

PP&R is updating the following sections of Title 20 Portland City Code:

• Fires and fireworks: We are removing conflicting references to fireworks, and we're clarifying that grills and stoves (BBQ's) are allowed in designated areas.
• E-bikes, and scooters: We are adding authority to the City Administrator to establish “rules of the road” for e-scooters and e-bikes in parks, including where people can ride, speed zones, and where they can park or leave devices, as well as rules for companies managing these devices. 
• Smoking: We are clarifying that smoking includes the use of vapes and e-cigarettes and that a person may be excluded or ejected from a park for smoking drugs or tobacco.
• Vehicles and boats: We are adding new language that explicitly prohibits abandoning vehicles or vessels on park property. We also are clearly articulating that operating a vehicle off-road without a permit in a park is prohibited.
• Animals: We are reorganizing rules related to animals to make them easier to understand. New rules restrict the types of animals a person may bring into a park. They also prohibit dumping aquatic life into sensitive wetlands and habitats. We are removing the policy requiring a previous warning before a citation for dog off-leash can be issued.
• Skateboarding: We are updating rules to focus on rider behavior, explicitly prohibiting grinding, launching, or sliding on any park surface. Skateboarding will now be allowed on brickwork, except in areas where it is posted as prohibited.
• Drones: To comply with new state law, we are prohibiting the take-off and landing of unmanned aerial systems (drones) in parks, except in limited circumstances.
• Permit appeals: We are clarifying the permit appeals process.
• Citations: We are authorizing the City Administrator to issue civil penalties that may include fines in some circumstances, like unpermitted construction activity, dumping, and animal violations.

Ensuring the right resolutions to park violations

• When confronted with a park rule violation, Park Rangers typically educate visitors to gain voluntary compliance.
• Rangers are authorized to issue ejections and exclusions when necessary. This requires a person to leave a park for a set amount of time. 
• Since 2013, Park Rangers have been authorized to issue citations for dog off-leash violations, but only after a written warning was previously issued.

New civil penalties

Under the changes to Title 20 effective January 1, 2025, the City Administrator may issue civil penalties for:

How will Park Rangers issue citations?

Starting January 1, 2025, Park Rangers will be able to issue citations for these City rule violations under Title 20 Portland City code approved by Council and the City Administrator. A person issued a citation must pay the citation within 30 calendar days or appeal the citation within 10 business days. Citation appeals are heard by the Code Hearing’s Office.

By law, a Park Ranger may stop a a person when they have reasonable grounds to believe that person has committed a park rule violation so they may issue a citation. While Park Rangers cannot physically detain a person, if someone refuses to identify themselves or walks away, Park Rangers may contact nearby law enforcement. The law enforcement officer may use reasonable suspicion to stop and talk with that person, require identification, and issue a citation. 

Park Rangers and law enforcement are authorized to continue to also issue ejections, exclusions, or warnings for violations of park rules, in addition to any other remedy allowed by law.

Next steps

The Title 20 rule updates are expected at City Council on November 20^th.