Shelby County, TN Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Encroachment Permits (2026)

Shelby County Code Sec. 38-51 makes it an offense to lay, construct, repair, or rebuild a sidewalk, or to knowingly permit work on any part of a sidewalk or driveway apron or street between the curb and the property line, without a work permit from the county engineer. The one exception is new sidewalk construction in a developing area, which is governed separately under the county's sidewalk-in-developing-areas provision. The permit itself must specify the place where the work is to be done, the nature of the work, and the material to be used, per subsection (b).

00; where the county itself lays a sidewalk and bills the property owner for construction costs, the permit fee is folded into that bill of costs and collected the same way. Subsection (a) also requires the permit to be conspicuously posted at the work site and kept there until the county engineer or a representative inspects and completes the work. Subsection (c) carves out routine maintenance from the permit requirement: removing grass, weeds, trash, debris, or other obstructions is exempt as long as it does not damage the sidewalk surface or endanger anyone lawfully using it.

5-59, and was last amended by Ord. No. 128, § 9 on October 4, 1993. Because the definition covers driveway aprons and the curb-to-property-line street strip, not just poured sidewalk sections, the permit functions as the county's basic mechanism for controlling private encroachment onto the public right-of-way whenever construction work is involved.