Richmond, VA Public Conduct: Skateboarding Rules (2026)

Richmond City Code § 19-293 provides that no person shall use a skateboard on the premises of the main branch of the public library, City Hall, Canal Walk or Festival Park. The section carries no stated penalty of its own, so under the city's general penalty provision, § 1-16(b)(2), an offense defined without a specified misdemeanor class is deemed a Class 1 misdemeanor, the same tier used for loitering and public urination offenses elsewhere in the code. Two related, narrower bans sit in Chapter 8 governing city property and facilities: § 8-344 separately states no person shall use a skateboard within Festival Park, duplicating part of § 19-293's coverage for that specific park, and § 8-485 bars riding a bicycle, skateboarding, roller blading, or roller skating within the Downtown Riverfront Canal Area except in emergencies or with the express written permission of the Richmond Riverfront Corporation, the nonprofit that manages that stretch of the riverfront.

Outside these named locations, skateboarding on ordinary city sidewalks and streets is not itself banned by Chapter 19, though riders sharing a sidewalk with pedestrians remain subject to the general obstruction and loitering rules in § 19-110 if their riding blocks passage.