Deerfield Beach, FL Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Obstruction Rules (2026)

Section 46-5, Disorderly conduct, lists seven ways a person can violate the ordinance, and subsection (5) targets the sidewalk-obstruction scenario directly: loitering, crowding or congregating on a public street or sidewalk so as to unreasonably obstruct or interfere with pedestrian or vehicular traffic, or acting so as to create an unsafe condition for traffic or sidewalk use, is unlawful once the person fails or refuses to disperse and move on after a law enforcement officer orders it. The companion subsection (6) covers the related act of blocking a building's entrance or exit so as to create an unsafe condition for people entering or leaving, again triggered once the person refuses a dispersal order.

Both provisions require an officer's order to disperse before a violation is complete; simply standing on a sidewalk is not itself the offense, but continuing to obstruct after being told to move is. The section dates to Code 1979 Section 3911 and was last amended by Ordinance No. 2012/035 in September 2012. S. 03, and the ordinance is enforced by the Broward Sheriff's Office, which serves as the city's police department. The rule sits in Chapter 46, Offenses, next to the city's other public-order ordinances covering sleeping in public and panhandling on sidewalks.