Clayton County, GA Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Obstruction Rules (2026)

Sec. 62-9 defines disorderly conduct through seven separate acts, and subsection (a)(7) is the one aimed squarely at right-of-way encroachments: obstruction of any highway, road, street, sidewalk, passage, or parking area in such a way as to render it impassable without reasonable inconvenience or hazard, coupled with the failure or refusal to remove the obstruction once a law enforcement officer has lawfully commanded its removal. Merely leaving something in the way is not, by itself, the violation; the offense is complete only once an officer has ordered the obstruction cleared and the person in control of it has failed or refused to comply.

Sidewalk and passage obstruction sits inside the same Code section as violent or tumultuous conduct, fighting words, disrupting a lawful meeting, and public intoxication with boisterous behavior, all of which the county treats as species of disorderly conduct rather than separate offenses. The section carries its own enforcement tools: officers may arrest for a violation under O.C.G.A. § 15-10-62, and the chief magistrate may set a schedule of cash bonds for court appearances under O.C.G.A. § 15-10-63.1.

A disorderly conduct offense is a misdemeanor, and the county may add a fee of up to $100.00 for supervisory purposes on top of any punishment under Sec. 1-12, the general penalty, which allows a fine of up to $1,000.00, imprisonment in the county jail for up to six months, or both.