Fayetteville, NC Public Conduct: Skateboarding Rules (2026)

Fayetteville regulates skateboarding through three separate sections depending on where you ride. Sec. S. 160A-537, unless an exception applies. Outside downtown, Sec. 16-218 permits skateboards, roller skates, scooters, and similar nonmotorized devices on ordinary city sidewalks, but expressly excludes the Downtown Historic District under Chapter 24, Article IV, except during a special event permitted under Sec. 24-133. Riders on a permitted sidewalk must yield the right-of-way to pedestrians, slowing or stopping as needed, and are barred from riding on the roadway itself except while crossing at a crosswalk or intersection (that roadway restriction lifts only when a street is closed to vehicles for a permitted special event).

Separately, Sec. 18-9 governs city-owned or operated skate parks: anyone riding a skateboard, skates, scooter, or bicycle there must wear a helmet, elbow pads, knee pads, and closed-toe shoes; this replaced a 2012-repealed prior section and was adopted by Ord. No. S2020-001 in February 2020. Together the three sections mean the legal answer to "can I skateboard here" depends entirely on the specific patch of pavement: downtown mall area, no; ordinary sidewalk, yes with yielding; Downtown Historic District sidewalk, no except during special events; city skate park, yes but only in full pads.