Louisburg, KS Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Encroachment Permits (2026)

City Code Section 13-111 creates the only route for lawfully encumbering a public sidewalk that Section 13-110 otherwise makes off-limits. The Governing Body may authorize a temporary permit, issued in connection with a building or moving permit, allowing the owner of property abutting a sidewalk to use or encumber that sidewalk or public way while a building or improvement on the property is under construction. The permit is expressly limited to a limited time only, tying its duration to the construction project itself rather than granting open-ended use of the right-of-way.

Before any such permit can issue, the owner or the owner's contractor must submit plans for warning and safeguarding the public during the sidewalk's use, and the Governing Body must approve those plans; no permit is issued until that approval happens. This ties the sidewalk-use permit to the same construction-permitting process the Building Official administers under Chapter 4 for the underlying building or moving permit. Because the encroachment permit exists as an exception to Section 13-110's obstruction ban, the same general penalty in Section 1-116 applies if a person encumbers a sidewalk without first securing Governing Body approval: a fine of not more than $499, imprisonment of not more than 179 days, or both.