Brookhaven, NY Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Encroachment Permits (2026)

L. No. 30-1987, sets the entire encroachment-permit process. Section 38-19 requires written consent from the Town Superintendent of Highways before any structure or man-made object may encroach within a Town right-of-way; no such consent may be presumed from silence or prior tolerance. Section 38-20 sets the three-part standard the Superintendent applies before issuing a permit: the encroachment must be necessary for the health, safety and welfare of the occupant of the adjacent property, it must not unduly endanger or interfere with public use of the right-of-way, and removing it would create an undue financial hardship for the owner.

Before the permit is delivered, § 38-21 requires the landowner to execute a hold-harmless agreement in a form acceptable to the Town Attorney and to record that agreement with the Suffolk County Clerk, so the obligation runs with the land and binds future owners. Section 38-22 gives the Superintendent continuing authority over the permit: he may impose whatever conditions he deems necessary for the reasonable and safe use of the right-of-way, and if the permittee violates those conditions, the Superintendent may revoke the permit outright without a separate court proceeding.

Section 38-23, as amended in 2019, requires the Superintendent to charge a fee for issuance, with the amount set by Town Board resolution rather than fixed in the Code itself. Typical encroachments handled under this article include fences, retaining walls, driveway aprons, mailbox posts and similar fixtures that sit partly within the paved or unpaved right-of-way fronting a residential lot. Because the Superintendent of Highways administers Article V only outside incorporated villages, property inside Patchogue, Port Jefferson, Bellport or any other village within the Town must instead check that village's own code.