Dubuque, IA Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Encroachment Permits (2026)

Section 10-3-1 treats uncontrolled encroachments, things like architectural features, building projections, grates, vaults, areaways, waste collection receptacles and newsracks placed in a public place, as inherently dangerous to pedestrians, people entering or leaving vehicles and buildings, and workers performing utility, traffic control or emergency service work, and it declares any encroachment causing undue inconvenience or danger, or that's unsightly, a public nuisance. Sections 10-3-2 and 10-3-3 set the price of a permit: the holder must agree to indemnify and defend the city against any liability arising from placing or maintaining the encroachment, and must carry insurance acceptable to the city manager before the permit issues.

Section 10-3-4 governs how a permit ends. The city can revoke a permit, or decline to renew it, on 10 days' written notice at the city's convenience, or for noncompliance, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation, and must specify its reasons in writing. Once notified to remove an encroachment, the permit holder has 30 days to do so at their own expense; if they don't, the city manager removes it and disposes of it at the permit holder's expense, and the permit holder must agree in advance not to claim damages over that removal.

If an encroachment has been damaged, moved, or otherwise become an immediate threat to public safety, the city manager can give immediate notice, and the permit holder then has only 7 days to remove it before the city does. Article A of the same chapter separately requires a permit, proof of insurance and a City-set fee for any waste collection receptacle placed in a public place, renewable annually and nontransferable to a different address.