Erie, PA

Erie added accessory dwelling units to its zoning code by Ordinance No. 52-2024 (passed 9-18-2024), defining an ADU as a single dwelling unit secondary to the principal dwelling and…

Erie defines a private garage as an accessory building used only to store the occupants' vehicles and personal effects, not for commercial use or outside auto repair. Converting a…

In Erie's 'R' districts a detached accessory building (shed) must sit in the side or rear yard, at least 6 ft from any dwelling or alley and 3 ft from side/rear lot lines, and may be…

The City of Erie prohibits keeping any animal usually kept as a farm animal or livestock; owners receive a seven-day warning to remove the animals or face a citation.

Erie has no breed-specific ban; Pennsylvania state law expressly prohibits any local ordinance from prohibiting or limiting a specific breed of dog, so the City regulates dangerous…

Erie's park rules make it illegal to hunt, molest, harm, frighten, kill, trap, chase, tease, shoot at, or throw missiles at any bird within a city park. Taking a bird's eggs, nest or…

Any dog or cat adopted from a City shelter or a nonprofit rescue in Erie must be spayed or neutered, by six months of age if placed young or within 30 days if placed older. Owners must…

Erie owners must keep dogs on a leash no longer than six feet whenever the dog is off the owner's property and on a public street, sidewalk or City property. Running at large draws a…

Pet grooming is a straightforward permitted use in most of Erie's commercial zones, but the C-2 General Commercial District attaches a physical standard the others do not: Section…

Pennsylvania's Bee Law requires all beekeepers to register their colonies annually with the Department of Agriculture for inspection and disease control.

Pennsylvania requires Exotic Wildlife Possession Permits for keeping bears, big cats, wolves, and other dangerous exotic species under Game Commission rules.

Pennsylvania sets no statewide cap on how many dogs or cats a household may keep. The line that matters is the Dog Law's kennel definition in § 102: any establishment in or through…

Pennsylvania Game Commission regulations prohibit intentionally feeding bears and elk statewide, with deer feeding restricted in chronic wasting disease zones.

Erie caps fences, hedges and enclosures in required yard space at 6 ft 6 in in Residential Districts and 8 ft 6 in in non-Residential Districts. Height is measured from the maximum…

A retaining wall in Erie does not need a building permit if it stands four feet or less, measured from the lowest grade to the top of the wall, and does not support a surcharge, per…

A fence in Erie needs a City permit before it goes up, filed with the Code Enforcement office in Room 407 of the Municipal Building. The fee starts at a flat $50 for a fence costing…

Erie's zoning ordinance does not restrict fence materials by type, but it imposes an opacity rule near corners and driveways: a fence is only 'see-through' if 70 percent of its area is…

Under Pennsylvania's 1905 Line Fence Act (29 P.S. § 41), adjoining owners of improved and occupied land must build and maintain equal halves of any boundary or division fence, and…

Pennsylvania Act 74 of 2022 (3 Pa.C.S. Ch. 11) preempts local fireworks bans and legalizes consumer fireworks statewide for anyone 18 or older. They may not be discharged within 150…

Erie's Quality of Life Ordinance requires working smoke alarms in every occupied dwelling and structure citywide. Violations are cited as QOL-30 and draw a flat $100 fine per offense…

Erie's Uniform Construction Code carves out propane gas installations entirely: tubing, piping, propane-burning appliances and LP-gas fixtures are exempt from the City's building…

Erie permits recreational backyard fires of seasoned firewood between 5 pm and 11 pm Monday-Thursday and 5 pm to midnight on weekends and federal holidays, kept 25 feet from any…

Burning garbage, recyclable materials, leaf waste, or grass clippings is unlawful in the City of Erie at all times under Quality of Life ordinance item QOL-31. Open burning is also…

Pennsylvania's Forest Fire Protection Law makes it a crime to set fire to any woodlot, forest, or wild land anywhere in the Commonwealth. Accidental ignition is a misdemeanor…

A Home Occupation in Erie must be clearly secondary to the residential use and generate no more customer, delivery or pickup traffic than normal residential use; it may have no…

A Home Occupation in Erie may have no sign at all - the Zoning Ordinance prohibits any outside appearance of a commercial use 'including, but not limited to, parking, signs or lights.'…

Erie's zoning code lists family day-care homes as a permitted, by-right use in every residential district from R-1 through RLB, so no special exception hearing is needed to open one…

Erie's Home Occupation definition allows 'no customer, client or patient traffic, whether vehicular or pedestrian, pickup, delivery or removal functions to or from the premises, in…

Pennsylvania never enacted a cottage food law, so there is no sales ceiling to stay under and no exemption to claim. Instead 3 Pa.C.S. § 5734(a) makes it the duty of every person…

Erie requires trees to be kept clear at 14 feet above the street and 9 feet above the sidewalk, and any planting or removal of a tree in the public right-of-way needs a City permit…

Erie runs its own composting program through the Bureau of Refuse and Recycling covering grass clippings, lawn and leaf waste, and hedge trimmings. The City sets the collection manner…

Erie's vacant and foreclosure property maintenance rule, Article 749, names artificial turf or sod designed for residential installation as acceptable yard groundcover, alongside grass…

Erie's zoning code expressly allows rain barrels on urban garden and market garden sites under Zoning Ordinance Section 305.48(b)(5). Rain barrels are permitted as an accessory feature…

Erie's Zoning Ordinance Section 206.15(d)(3)G lets an Industrial Park property owner treat part of the site as natural landscaping to encourage native plants instead of standard…

The City of Erie's adopted property-maintenance standard requires premises to be kept free of weeds and plant growth taller than 10 inches; overgrowth is a code-enforcement and Quality…

Erie has no city lawn-watering ordinance in normal conditions; Pennsylvania state law (4 Pa. Code Chapter 119) prohibits watering grass and most outdoor plants once the Governor…

Erie sets no fixed numeric quiet hours. Instead, Article 705 (Disorderly Conduct) of the Codified Ordinances makes it disorderly conduct to shout or make noise during the nighttime to…

No Erie-specific ordinance directly addresses aircraft noise; the topic is preempted. Aircraft operations and in-flight noise are governed by the Federal Aviation Administration under…

Erie's Zoning Ordinance Section 206.2(b) bars any Light Industrial Park use from running sustained noise above 60 decibels or unsustained peak noise above 80 decibels, measured at the…

No Erie-specific ordinance directly addresses construction hours; the City's Codified Ordinances do not set start/stop times for construction noise. Daytime construction noise is…

Erie has no decibel-based barking-dog ordinance with fixed time thresholds; persistent animal noise that disturbs the good order and quiet of the City is addressed under the general…

Article 705 of Erie's Codified Ordinances makes it disorderly conduct to operate any radio, television, phonograph, sound amplifier, musical instrument or similar device at a sound…

Erie's Article 736 (Recreational Motor Vehicles) bars muffler cutouts, bypasses and straight pipes and requires standard mufflers in constant operation to keep noise to a minimum…

No Erie ordinance creates an RV- or boat-specific on-street parking program; recreational vehicles, boat trailers, and campers parked on city streets are governed by the general…

Erie's Zoning Ordinance limits commercial vehicles in residential districts: not more than one commercial truck may be stored on a lot, and heavier equipment (dump trucks, buses…

Erie requires a City Engineer permit before building, rebuilding or cutting any curb or driveway. Residential lots 50 feet wide or less get only one driveway; wider lots may add a…

Erie caps material loading and unloading in a marked loading zone at 30 minutes flat, and passenger zones are limited to only as long as expeditious loading or unloading actually…

Erie streets qualify for resident-only permit parking when 70% of on-street capacity is occupied on weekdays and 70% of those parked vehicles belong to non-residents, with Central…

Erie forbids leaving a wrecked, junked, stripped or abandoned vehicle on private property where it creates a hazard, and holds both the vehicle owner and the property owner…

Erie has no blanket overnight ban on ordinary cars, but the 72-hour storage limit (Section 521.04) caps how long a car may sit. In the inner-city area odd-even parking runs 8 a.m. to 4…

Erie Codified Ordinance Section 521.04 prohibits using city streets to store a vehicle: leaving any vehicle in one place continuously for over 72 hours is a storage violation…

A Pennsylvania private parking lot cannot tow you unless it is posted. Under 75 Pa.C.S. § 3353(b)(2) the trespass-parking rule does not reach a private parking lot at all unless the…

The City of Erie requires a Short-Term Rental license before any dwelling may be rented for under 30 days. Operators must first obtain zoning approval and a Zoning Certificate, then…

Erie charges short-term rental operators an annual license fee that rises the later they pay: $80 by May 15, $130 by June 30, and $160 after that, plus $65 for any additional…

Erie requires every short-term rental owner to carry at least $500,000 in general liability, hazard, and casualty insurance per rental unit, more than triple the $150,000 minimum set…

Erie's short-term rental ordinance locks in fixed quiet hours under Zoning Ordinance Section 305.49(a)(7): no noise or sound that is plainly audible to an unaided human ear is allowed…

Erie's short-term rental ordinance requires all guest and renter vehicles to park on the rental property itself under Zoning Ordinance Section 305.49(a)(11)C, banning street, community…

Erie short-term rentals may not exceed the number of occupants allowed in the applicable zoning district, with maximum occupancy based on the number and size of bedrooms, a family…

A residential swimming pool, hot tub, or spa in the City of Erie must comply with the barrier provisions of the International Residential and International Building Codes, and any yard…

The City of Erie requires a building permit for any swimming pool deeper than 24 inches, and the pool, hot tub, or spa must comply with the International Residential and Building…

Anyone building, filling, grading or otherwise developing land within Erie's identified floodplain area must first get a permit from the city's Floodplain Administrator. Undertaking…

Erie regulates stormwater runoff and land-disturbing construction under Article 946, the Stormwater Quality Management Ordinance. Earth disturbance of 5,000 square feet or more…

In Erie's mapped AE, A1-30 and AH flood zones, new construction and substantial improvements must have their lowest floor at or above the Regulatory Flood Elevation, which the code…

Every major subdivision built in the City of Erie needs a soil erosion and sedimentation control plan before grading starts, built to Pennsylvania's Chapter 102 erosion standards and…

Non-residential parking lot operators in Erie pay a 15% parking tax on every transaction and must hold a $100 annual operating license. Codified Ordinances § 377.03 sets the tax rate…

Erie's Rental Housing Ordinance doesn't just create tenant rights, it requires the City itself to explain how to enforce them. Section 354.05(b)(2)A obligates the City to publish…

Erie enforces dozens of everyday property complaints, trash accumulation, high grass, junk vehicles, illegal dumping, through its Quality of Life Ticketing Program instead of sending…

Erie requires every residential rental unit to hold a rental license from the Code Official, issued only after inspection. Short-term rentals get one-year licenses inspected annually…

When Erie's Code Official finds code violations at a rental inspection, the owner gets written notice of the deficiencies within 10 days and 30 days to schedule a reinspection, or the…

Erie parks and public playgrounds are open to the public only from 8:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., with named exceptions for golf courses, one park open until 9:30 p.m., and several parks…

Erie bars anyone under 18 from being in a public place, in an establishment, or in a parked or moving vehicle between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. every night unless a listed exception…

Since March 1, 2020, Erie has required every child-care facility to hold a certificate of occupancy from the Building Code Official, issued only after a joint building and fire…

Any electrical work in Erie regulated by the Uniform Construction Code needs a permit from the Building Code Official before wiring begins, per City Code Section 1503.41(a). The Bureau…

Plumbing work in Erie regulated by the Uniform Construction Code needs a permit from the Building Code Official before work starts, per Section 1503.41(a). City Code Section 1502.04…

Before constructing, enlarging, altering, repairing, moving, demolishing or changing the occupancy of a residential building in Erie, or installing a covered electrical, gas…

Erie requires a construction code official, or a Fire Inspector for fire code items, to inspect permitted work at each stage, with the permit holder responsible for notifying the…

Erie's own code hands elevator regulation to the Commonwealth: Section 1503.72 adopts the Uniform Construction Code's elevator and lifting-device standards in 34 Pa. Code Chapter 405…

Erie treats solar panels as an accessory use in every zoning district. Freestanding panels are limited to rear and side yards, capped at 20 feet tall, and cannot cover more than 50% of…

Erie doesn't license pawnshops through a separate permit process, it makes them report to police instead. Codified Ordinances § 345.01 requires every pawnshop and secondhand-goods…

Any wrecker service pulling a vehicle off private property in Erie without the owner's consent must phone the Bureau of Police one hour beforehand with the vehicle's details, and the…

Erie's zoning ordinance keeps adult bookstores, adult theaters and massage parlors at least 750 feet from each other and from any residential area, church, school, hospital, library…

Erie's zoning use tables list 'Auto repair shop' as a permitted use only in the M-1 Light Manufacturing and M-2 Heavy Manufacturing Districts. It is absent from the R-1, R-1A, R-2 and…

Pennsylvania regulates electronic cigarettes and vape products under Act 84 of 2016, imposing a 40 percent wholesale tax on e-liquids and devices and requiring tobacco product…

Erie requires anyone peddling house-to-house or street-to-street, resident or not, to obtain a license from the Bureau of Licensing before soliciting sales, under Codified Ordinances §…

Erie's Rental Housing Ordinance defines 'habitability' and makes it a landlord's legal duty. Article 354 requires working plumbing, sewage, electrical and heating systems, and a home…

Erie landlords must obtain a residential rental registration from the Code Official before letting any unit, and a separate rental license after inspection, under Codified Ordinances…

Under 68 P.S. Section 250.501, a Pennsylvania landlord must serve a written notice to quit before eviction: 10 days for nonpayment of rent, and 15 days (term of one year or less) or 30…

Pennsylvania Landlord-Tenant Act establishes uniform eviction notice and procedure requirements applicable statewide, governing all residential tenancy terminations universally.

Pennsylvania's Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 caps a residential security deposit at two months' rent during the first year and one month's rent in the second and later years…

Pennsylvania's general adverse possession period is 21 years under 42 Pa.C.S. Section 5530. A shorter 10-year period applies under 42 Pa.C.S. Section 5527.1 to a parcel of one-half…

Erie property occupants must clear snow, ice or sleet from the sidewalk in front of their premises within three hours after it stops falling, under a 1934 ordinance still in force. Ice…

Owners of any Erie building vacant for more than 180 days must register it with the Office of Code Enforcement and pay a $300 fee every six months. Registered vacant and foreclosure…

Erie's Building Code Official or Fire Inspector may declare any building, structure or equipment unsafe under Codified Ordinances § 1503.55 and order it vacated immediately, including…

Erie requires every household to keep rigid, watertight refuse cans of 3 to 35 gallons with outside handles and a tight-fitting cover, drain and bag garbage before it goes in the can…

Erie runs mandatory weekly residential refuse collection through the Bureau of Refuse and Recycling and bills every dwelling of four units or less a $306.62 annual fee. The Department…

Erie collects leaves from every premises that gets garbage service, but they must go out in open rigid containers at curbside, never mixed with household trash or recyclables. Yard…

Dumping rubbish, garbage or waste on private, vacant or public property in Erie is a $100 Quality-of-Life ticket under Article 1129, and anyone who can't prove they used a licensed…

Erie residents must separate recyclables from trash and set them out under the city's mandatory Recovery Program. Landlords of multi-family buildings with more than four units must set…

Any temporary dumpster placed in Erie, whether on private property, in the public right-of-way, or anywhere else in the City, needs prior City approval under the Quality of Life…

Erie residents cannot leave refuse in the street between collections. Only the City or its licensed contractor may haul residential refuse, garbage must stay curbside on the regular…

Erie requires a permit from the Director of Parks and Public Places for softball field or Glenwood Picnic Grove use and comparable park activities. The Director must issue it unless…

Anyone selling food, beverages or merchandise from a stand or vehicle on Erie's public streets or sidewalks must hold a vendor license from the Bureau of Licensing before operating…

Anyone selling food or beverages from a stand or vehicle on Erie's streets or sidewalks needs a peddler/vendor license from the Bureau of Licensing before setting up shop. The $200…

Erie bans skateboarding outright in Perry Square Park and the Transitway Mall, and on every other City-owned or City-controlled property unless a City agency specifically authorizes…

Erie's Article 737 makes it a summary offense to loiter in any public place with the purpose of committing or aiding a drug abuse offense, especially where the person repeatedly…

Erie's panhandling ordinance doesn't ban solicitation outright, but it bars panhandling that blocks traffic or crosses into an "aggressive manner," defined as following someone more…

Every City-owned park, playground and recreation area in Erie is designated a tobacco-free zone under Article 747, banning smoking, e-cigarettes, vaping and all other tobacco products…

Erie makes it a crime to drink alcohol on any street, sidewalk, park or public place, or in a vehicle that's moving, parked or standing on a public way, and separately bans discarding…

Smoking marijuana in any public space in Erie carries a $100 summary fine, and simple possession alone draws a lower $25 fine under the city's 2018 decriminalization ordinance. Police…

Erie's Tenant Bill of Rights writes freedom from vermin infestation into the legal definition of a rental unit's habitability. Landlords must maintain that standard for the whole lease…

Erie puts sidewalk construction and repair squarely on the abutting property owner's shoulders and dime under Section 903.01, requiring safe, paved condition at all times. If an owner…

Placing boxes, lumber, coal, ashes or any other item that blocks a sidewalk in front of your property is a summary offense in Erie, punishable by up to a $300 fine. Bicycle racks are…

Blocking or closing a public sidewalk for construction or redevelopment work in Erie requires a sidewalk closure permit from the Bureau of Engineering first. Closures cannot exceed 90…

Erie's parking code flatly bars stopping, standing or parking any vehicle inside a designated bicycle lane on city streets, whether marked by striping, signage or pavement markings…

Pennsylvania draws a hard line between a golf cart and a neighborhood electric vehicle. Chapter 77A of the Vehicle Code makes it unlawful to operate a golf cart on any highway at all…

Erie bans posting any political campaign sign on public property outright, and on private property limits posting to no more than 90 days before an election with removal required…

Erie's zoning code treats a garage sale as a temporary use, not a business. It is allowed only in R Districts and the RLB-1 District, capped at three days per sale, and no household…

Erie's Zoning Ordinance Section 205.20 forbids any front setback in the C-3 Central Commercial District: new buildings must sit at the property line, not the public right-of-way, to…

Erie's Zoning Ordinance Section 206.13(b)(1) requires every outdoor light in the Industrial Park district, spotlights, floodlights, sign lighting, parking and loading-area lighting…

Erie requires every illuminated sign, including billboards regulated under the city's outdoor-advertising rules, to control glare with cutoff fixtures, shields, or baffles rather than…

Erie's Zoning Ordinance Section 305.35(d) requires any convenience store's outdoor mechanical or refrigeration equipment to be muffled so it doesn't carry noise off the lot. The same…

Erie's Section 205 table fixes the minimum front, side, and rear yard depths for every zoning district. An R-1 house needs a flat 30-foot front yard, while R-1A, R-2, R-3, and RLB lots…

Erie's Section 205 table caps building height at 35 feet in the R-1 and R-1A Districts, 45 feet in R-2, 100 feet in R-3, and 60 feet in RLB. Chimneys, spires, and similar rooftop…

Erie caps how much of a lot a building can occupy: 35 percent in the R-1 District and 50 percent in R-1A, R-2, R-3, and RLB, rising to as much as 100 percent in the busiest commercial…

The Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Act establishes statewide siting rules for dispensaries, including a 1,000-foot setback from schools and daycares, while allowing reasonable local…

Pennsylvania prohibits home cultivation of cannabis by patients, caregivers, and recreational users. The Medical Marijuana Act limits production to state-permitted growers, and…

Commercial drone operators in Pennsylvania must hold an FAA Part 107 certificate and comply with state crimes under Act 78 of 2018 (18 Pa.C.S. Section 3505). That law preempts local…

Pennsylvania Act 78 of 2018 (18 Pa.C.S. Section 3505) criminalizes drone surveillance of a private place, menacing operation, and contraband delivery, and preempts most local drone…

Pennsylvania is a shall-issue state requiring a License to Carry Firearms (LTCF) issued by the county sheriff for concealed carry or carry in a vehicle, with statewide rules under 18…

Pennsylvania law comprehensively preempts local regulation of firearms under 18 Pa.C.S. §6120. Cities and counties cannot regulate lawful ownership, possession, transfer, or…

Open carry of firearms is generally legal in Pennsylvania for adults 18 or older without a permit outside Philadelphia, but a License to Carry Firearms is required statewide for…

Under 18 Pa.C.S. Section 6106, carrying a firearm in a vehicle anywhere in Pennsylvania generally requires a valid License to Carry Firearms, with limited exceptions for unloaded…

Pennsylvania caps mini-casinos at ten Category 4 slot machine licenses statewide under 4 Pa.C.S. § 1305.1, each barred from sitting within 25 linear miles of an existing Category 1, 2…

Pennsylvania nonprofits can't run raffles, punchboards, or 50/50 drawings for charity until their own municipality's voters approve it in a referendum. Once approved, the county…

Pennsylvania's gambling code has no social-game or private-residence exception. 18 Pa.C.S. § 5513 makes it a first-degree misdemeanor to let people 'collect and assemble for the…

Pennsylvania channels all sports wagering through Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board certificates, and only an existing slot machine licensee can hold one under 4 Pa.C.S. § 13C11…

Under Pennsylvania's Uniform Planned Community Act, 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315, an association has an automatic lien on a unit for unpaid assessments and fines from the time they become due…

A Pennsylvania association's bylaws must call at least one owners' meeting a year, and notice has to go out not less than ten and not more than 60 days before it, stating the time, the…

Pennsylvania's American, Commonwealth and Military Flag Act overrides any HOA covenant that bans flags. Whatever the declaration says, an association may not stop a unit owner from…

Pennsylvania sets no dollar ceiling on a homeowners association fine. Under the Uniform Planned Community Act, 68 Pa.C.S. § 5302(a)(11), an association may levy "reasonable fines" for…

A Pennsylvania planned community association gets a lien on a lot the moment an assessment or fine falls due, and 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315(a) lets it foreclose that lien in a like manner as a…

Sobriety checkpoints are lawful in Pennsylvania, and the authority is a single clause in 75 Pa.C.S. § 6308(b) permitting an officer to stop a vehicle whenever he is engaged in a…

Pennsylvania is an all-party consent state, and 18 Pa.C.S. § 5703 grades an intentional interception of an oral communication as a felony of the third degree, one of the harshest…

Pennsylvania has never enacted a general stop-and-identify statute, so a person stopped on the street in this Commonwealth has no statutory duty to state a name or produce…

Pennsylvania does not require an officer to obtain written consent before searching a car, and it does not require a warning that you may refuse. Since 5 December 2025 it does require…

Pennsylvania protects agricultural land through Agricultural Security Areas under Act 43 of 1981 and the Agricultural Area Security Law, working alongside municipal zoning to limit…

Pennsylvania's Right to Farm Act (Act 133 of 1982, 3 P.S. §951 et seq.) protects established agricultural operations from local nuisance lawsuits and overly restrictive municipal…

Pennsylvania Act 112 of 2019 raised the minimum age to purchase tobacco and e-cigarettes to 21, aligning with the federal Tobacco 21 law (Dec 2019). The state law covers all tobacco…

Pennsylvania does not currently impose a statewide ban on flavored tobacco or menthol cigarettes, though federal FDA marketing rules restrict which flavored vape products and…

Pennsylvania allows a passenger vehicle or light truck exactly one pair of approved auxiliary driving lamps and fog lamps, mounted at least 20 inches apart from center to center and no…

Pennsylvania has never written a dash cam allowance into the Vehicle Code. 75 Pa.C.S. § 4524(a) bars nontransparent material on the front windshield that materially obstructs the…

Lane splitting is expressly illegal in Pennsylvania. Section 3523(c) of the Vehicle Code says no person shall operate a motorcycle between lanes of traffic or between adjacent lines or…

Pennsylvania flatly prohibits a tinted registration plate cover. Section 1332(b)(5) of the Vehicle Code makes it unlawful to display a plate that "has a tinted plate cover," with no…

A radar detector is legal in a private passenger vehicle in Pennsylvania. The full text of Title 75, the Vehicle Code, contains no occurrence of the word "detector" at all, and the…

Studded snow tires are legal in Pennsylvania only between November 1 and April 15 of the following year, and the studs may project no more than two thirty-seconds of an inch beyond the…

Pennsylvania sets no separate front-and-rear tint percentages the way most states do. 75 Pa.C.S. § 4524(e)(1) simply bars driving with any sun screening device that does not permit a…