Sanford, FL Public Conduct: Skateboarding Rules (2026)

Section 54-5 of the Sanford City Code, codified from Code 1973 § 18-32 and amended by Ordinance No. 1442 in 1978, prohibits skateboarding on any sidewalk in the public right-of-way located in a district carrying a commercial zoning classification. The prohibition applies citywide wherever land is zoned for commercial use, from the historic downtown along First Street to shopping corridors on French Avenue and 25th Street; it does not reach sidewalks in the city's residential SR-1, SR-2 or MR districts. The same section separately prohibits bicycle riding on those same commercial-district sidewalks unless the police chief has designated, and the city manager has approved, a particular sidewalk as a bicycle path, so a marked path is the only lawful way to ride a bicycle through a commercial corridor's pedestrian right-of-way, and no such path exception exists for skateboards.

Sec. 54-5 sits in Chapter 54, Article I, which the Code cross-references to Chapter 94 governing streets, sidewalks and other public places, meaning Public Works signage and sidewalk-use rules apply alongside the ban. Sanford does not set a separate fine schedule for this offense, so a violation falls under the Code's general penalty clause, Sec. 1-7: absent a specific penalty, any Code violation is punishable by a fine of up to $500.00, imprisonment of up to 60 days, or both, with each continuing act treated as a separate offense. The Sanford Police Department, which also administers the bicycle-path designation, is the enforcing agency for this section.