Pittsburgh City Council (Legistar) · May 15, 2026 – Aug 16, 2026

PittsburghPA

Snapshot built Aug 17, 2026. Explanations by gemini-flash-latest.

Ordinance 2026-0567 · Pittsburgh City Council

Passed

Pittsburgh updated its park rules to explicitly ban digging, removing soil, rocks, plants, or wood, and foraging or collecting seeds without a city-approved urban agriculture lease or written permission. The rules apply across all city parks, excepting permitted City-approved orchards and urban agricultural spaces.

Official title›

Ordinance amending and supplementing the Pittsburgh City Code, Title 4: Public Places and Property, Article XI: Parks and Playgrounds by amending Chapter 473.01.a.3 and 473.01.b.1 to update Pittsburgh’s Park Property Use Regulations.

Topic
Parks & recreation
Money
none named
Who it affects
park visitors and urban gardeners
Sponsors
—

Where: Pittsburgh City Parks.

parksurban agricultureforagingproperty regulations

Record

What happened, and who voted how

  1. Jun 2, 2026

    City Council

    meeting page

    Referred · Read and referred

  2. Jun 23, 2026

    City Council

    meeting page

    Passed · Passed Finally8–0, 1 absent

    • Anthony CoghillY
    • Barbara WarwickY
    • Bobby WilsonY
    • Deborah L. GrossY
    • Erika StrassburgerY
    • Khari MosleyY
    • R. Daniel LavelleY
    • Robert CharlandY
    • Kim Salinetro—

Source text

From the legislative file

..title
Ordinance amending and supplementing the Pittsburgh City Code, Title 4: Public Places and Property, Article XI: Parks and Playgrounds by amending Chapter 473.01.a.3 and 473.01.b.1 to update Pittsburgh's Park Property Use Regulations.

..body
The Council of the City of Pittsburgh hereby enacts as follows:

� 473.01. Park Property. 

[Ord. No. 15-2023, � 1, eff. 9-6-2023]

(a)  Buildings and Other Property.
(1)  Disfiguration and Removal. No person in a park shall willfully mark, deface, disfigure, injure, tamper with, or displace or remove, any building, bridges, tables, benches, fireplaces, railings, paving or paving material, water lines or other public utilities or parts or appurtenances thereof, signs, notices or placards whether temporary or permanent, monuments, stakes, posts or other boundary markers, or other structures or equipment, facilities or park property or appurtenances whatever, whether real or personal.

(2)  Restrooms and Wash Rooms. No person in a park shall fail to cooperate in maintaining restrooms and washrooms in a neat and sanitary condition.

(3)  Removal of Natural Resources. No person in a park shall dig or remove any soil, rock, stones, trees, shrubs or plants, down timber or other wood or materials, or make any excavation by tool, equipment, blasting or other means or agency with the exception of permitted City-approved orchards or urban agricultural spaces established for the purpose of harvesting. The removal of natural resources, such as foraging and seed collection, are not permitted without an urban agriculture lease or the written approval of the Department of Public Works and/or the City Forester. 

(4)  Erection of Structures. No person in a park shall construct or erect any building or structure of any kind, whether permanent or temporary in character, or run or string any public service utility into, upon or across lands, except on special written permit issued by the Director of Parks and Recreation.

(b) Trees, Shrubbery and Lawns.
(1) Injury and Removal. No person in a park shall damage, cut, carve, transplant or remove any tree or plant or injure the bark, or pick the flowers or seeds, of any tree or plant. Nor shall any person attach any rope, wire or other contrivance to any tree or plant. No person shall dig in or otherwise disturb grass areas, or in any other way injure or impair the natural beauty or usefulness of any area. Trees and plant material may only be removed from park land with a written per

[… 33 more characters in the original]
Open the original record ↗Plain-language summary written by gemini-flash-latest; votes, amounts and dates come from the record.

Parks & recreation

Related items