Gastonia, NC Public Conduct: Skateboarding Rules (2026)

Section 5-23 bans riding a skateboard, roller skates, or scooter on the premises of any municipal building, expressly naming the Garland Center, City Hall, and the Rotary Pavilion. The ban extends to any sidewalk or municipal parking lot located adjacent to the Rotary Pavilion, and to any sidewalk located within the city's central business district. The ordinance defines that district by four boundary streets: Walnut Avenue on the north, Broad Street on the east, Chester Street on the west, and Third Avenue on the south, covering the core downtown blocks around City Hall.

The rule was adopted by Ordinance No. 05-491 in 2005 and amended again in December 2021. Because the prohibition is written around specific properties and a defined downtown boundary rather than a citywide ban, skateboarding and scootering remain lawful on residential sidewalks and neighborhood streets outside that zone, subject to the city's separate sidewalk-riding rules for bicycles found nearby in Chapter 6. Gastonia Police Department officers enforce the ban on patrol downtown and around the named municipal buildings, and there is no permit process to request an exception. A person cited for riding through the banned zone is guilty of a misdemeanor with no separate civil-penalty track written into the section.