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

Town Code § 188-5 bars three things outright on land owned or controlled by the Town, including rights-of-way: constructing or maintaining a building or structure (subsection A), placing or maintaining an obstruction (subsection B), and creating or allowing a vision obstruction to exist (subsection C). Subsection D carves out the only path around the ban: the provisions do not apply to use or occupancy under a valid lease, license, permit or other Town approval, and any driveway apron or sidewalk work must meet Highway Department specifications using materials the Highway Department accepts.

A town code officer who finds an encroachment can order the responsible party to eliminate, remove, restore or remediate the property to its pre-disturbed condition under § 188-9, and ignoring that order is itself a separate violation. This chapter was rewritten in its entirety by Local Law No. 42-2020 from the original 1969 trespass code, and it now carries some of the steepest penalties in the town code specifically for encroachment: violations of § 188-5 are punished far more heavily than the chapter's general trespass provisions, and the Town Attorney can add civil penalties, injunctive relief, and a bill for the full cost of remediating and restoring the site, including replacing any destroyed vegetation or material and covering delivery, transportation and installation costs.