Jacksonville Beach, FL Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Encroachment Permits (2026)

Section 28-9 gives the city manager, not the city council, the power to grant right-of-way easements. The authority covers owners of property that abuts a public street or thoroughfare owned by the city, and it reaches the strip of street directly in front of, beside, or behind the owner's lot. The application has to be in writing.

The code limits the purpose. Easements are granted solely for fences, parking, landscaping, canopies, balconies, or dumpster enclosures. No other use appears on the list, so the section gives the city manager no printed authority to approve one.

Each easement carries mandatory terms. Under subsection (2) the easement must expressly provide that the user agrees to hold harmless the City of Jacksonville Beach, its representatives and employees from any and all damages that occur because the user accepted the easement. If the city, its approved representative, or a franchised utility has to enter the right-of-way, alley, or property, the user agrees to replace, at the user's sole expense, any material displaced while facilities approved by the city are maintained, operated, replaced, or added to. Subsection (3) requires the easement to be specific as to area, time, and purpose, so an open-ended grant is not possible. Subsection (4) lets the city council establish fees for easement applications.

Sec. 28-7 sits beside this rule. It makes it unlawful to place, park, leave, erect, construct, or maintain any post, pole, goods, furniture, boxes, building material, or other obstruction on any street, alley, sidewalk, footway, park, or beach without written permission from the city manager or chief of police. Sidewalk restaurant seating follows a separate track: Sec. 28-12(c)(5) requires a revocable encroachment permit from the public works department, supported by a survey of the right-of-way and a copy of the approved sidewalk dining permit.