Skokie, IL Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Encroachment Permits (2026)

Section 90-55 of the Village of Skokie Code states the baseline rule for private encroachments into public right-of-way in a single sentence: unless otherwise provided by the Code or a Village ordinance, the use of public ways is prohibited, and that prohibition reaches, without limitation, fences, sculptures and structures placed by a private party in the right-of-way. Rather than describing one general encroachment-permit process, Chapter 90 authorizes specific private uses of the right-of-way through a series of separate sections, each with its own permit and conditions, and Section 90-55's default prohibition is what makes each of those a true exception rather than a right.

Section 90-46, for example, lets a property owner install non-concrete or non-bituminous driveway or sidewalk material in the right-of-way, but only with a Village Manager permit and only after the owner records a written agreement covering maintenance, liability, insurance and eventual removal costs at the owner's expense. Section 90-45 similarly permits a private entity to depress a public street curb and ramp a sidewalk, but again only after a Village Manager permit and a recorded agreement making the privilege nontransferable. Section 90-54 requires a permit before surfacing or resurfacing any ground area with an impermeable surface.

Read together with Section 90-55, the pattern is that no private structure, surfacing or fixture may occupy Village right-of-way by default, and each specific encroachment sanctioned elsewhere in Chapter 90 carries its own permit application, fee and recorded-agreement requirements rather than falling under one general encroachment permit.