Lake Charles, LA Public Conduct: Skateboarding Rules (2026)

Article V of Chapter 5 governs skateboarding citywide. Sec. 5-60 makes it unlawful to ride a skateboard anywhere in the city without following the article's rules. Sec. 5-61 limits street crossings to the purpose of crossing, applying the same right-of-way rules as pedestrians and barring travel too fast for conditions. Sec. 5-62 governs sidewalks generally: riders cannot ride recklessly, must exercise due care for others, must yield the right-of-way to pedestrians at all times, and must slow to a speed no greater than necessary to keep moving without dismounting when approaching a pedestrian, only speeding back up once the pedestrian has been passed.

Sec. 5-63 then names the flat prohibitions that answer the business-district question directly: no skateboarding on the Lake Charles Civic Center grounds or parking area except where an area is designated for skateboard use, none on the Ryan Street Mall sidewalks (defined as the stretch of Ryan Street from Kirby Street to Mill Street, the city's core downtown business corridor), and none on any privately owned walkway or parking lot once the owner has posted 'No Skateboarding' signs. These three prohibited zones sit on top of, not instead of, the due-care sidewalk rule in Sec. 5-62, so a rider can violate the code by being reckless on an ordinary sidewalk even outside the named zones.