Wilmington, NC Public Conduct: Skateboarding Rules (2026)

Section 11-15 covers both ball-playing and wheeled human-powered devices in Wilmington's streets. Subsection (a) bars softball, baseball, basketball, football, soccer, and similar sports on the public streets of the city. Subsection (b) is the skateboard rule: no one may operate, ride, or use any device propelled by human power, defined to include tricycles, coasters, scooters, skateboards, roller skates, roller blades, sleds, and wagons but not bicycles or wheelchairs and other devices used by disabled persons, on a public street, sidewalk, park, or vehicular area located in the Central Business District or on the Riverwalk.

The ordinance pins down the Central Business District as the Central Business Zoning District under chapter 18, plus the area bounded by the western line of Seventh Street, the southern line of Market Street, the western line of Third Street, and the northern line of Chestnut Street. Outside that zone, subsection (c) still bars riding one of these devices on any public street except to cross it. Subsection (d) governs sidewalks citywide, including outside downtown: no one may ride recklessly or without exercising due care for other sidewalk users, and a rider must yield the right-of-way to pedestrians.

Subsection (e) gives the chief of police power to designate specific streets, from time to time, where riding is allowed under rules the chief sets to protect public safety. Subsection (f) makes any violation of Section 11-15 a misdemeanor.