Yakima, WA Public Conduct: Skateboarding Rules (2026)

Yakima Municipal Code § 6.75.040 states: it is unlawful to roller skate, ride a bicycle or ride in or by means of any skateboard, coaster, toy vehicle or similar device on any private or public sidewalk, mall or other public or private way open for pedestrian travel within the central business district as defined by YMC § 9.10.010, provided that the prohibition does not apply to a law enforcement officer in the course of official duties. The Central Business District is drawn tightly in § 9.10.010: the area bounded by the west curbline of 6th Avenue, the south curbline of Walnut Street, the east curbline of 6th Street, and the north curbline of Lincoln Avenue, a roughly six-block downtown core.

Outside that core, a companion section, § 6.75.030, bans skateboarding, roller-skating and similar wheeled devices on any roadway anywhere in the city except while lawfully crossing a street, and § 6.75.050 requires anyone on skates, a skateboard or a similar device to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians wherever they do ride. A separate section, § 6.75.065, bars bicycles, tricycles and scooters, though not skateboards or in-line skates, from the paved surface of a Yakima Skate Park, and requires every skate park to be posted: "no bikes or scooters, violators will be prosecuted under YMC § 6.75.065."

Penalties run through § 6.75.070: violating the central business district sidewalk ban, the roadway ban or the right-of-way rule is a civil infraction, not a crime, capped at ninety-five dollars for a first offense within a rolling one-year period, one hundred fifty dollars for a second offense, and two hundred fifty dollars for a third or later offense in that same year. Only the pedestrian/vehicular-interference offenses elsewhere in Chapter 6.75 are carved out as misdemeanors instead of infractions.