Jacksonville, NC Public Conduct: Skateboarding Rules (2026)

Jacksonville City Code § 25-15, titled "Skating on streets or sidewalks; penalty," splits the ban into two parts. Subsection (a) covers the business section: it is unlawful to skate or go upon roller skates or skateboards on any street or sidewalk there, with no distance or time exception. Subsection (b) extends the ban to a named list of residential streets, including Aldersgate Road, Audubon Drive, Brynn Marr Road, Cardinal Road, Davis Street, Northwoods Drive, Plantation Boulevard, Seminole Trail and Winchester Drive, plus any street or highway maintained by the North Carolina Department of Transportation inside city limits.

The ordinance traces to Code of 1968 § 15-69 and was last amended by Ord. No. 89-22 (May 2, 1989) and Ord. No. 2022-08 (January 18, 2022), which added the Class 3 misdemeanor penalty language now attached to the section. A separate, narrower rule sits two sections later at § 25-16, which bans playing ball or any other game in the streets citywide; it does not apply to skateboards and should not be read into § 25-15's list-based scheme. Because the ban is street- and street-list-specific rather than citywide, a skater on a street not named in subsection (b) and outside the business section is not automatically in violation, though riding into the business section or onto a state road remains prohibited regardless of which neighborhood the skater started in. The Jacksonville Police Department enforces the section under its general traffic and streets authority in Chapter 25.