Dothan, AL Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Obstruction Rules (2026)

Dothan's sidewalk and street obstruction rule, City Code § 86-1, sits in Chapter 86, Streets, Sidewalks and Other Public Places, and dates to the 1977 Code (§ 17-1). It bars any person from placing, keeping or maintaining goods, wares, merchandise, vehicles, implements, animals, boxes, rubbish or any other article on a sidewalk, street, alley or public way of the city if the item obstructs the way or interferes with the public's free use of it. The section builds in one exception: temporary use of a sidewalk for shipping or receiving goods is allowed, provided a sufficient passageway is left open for pedestrians at all times, as is any use of a street or sidewalk under a valid city permit.

The companion section, § 86-2, separately bars creating or allowing an unsafe condition or obstruction on sidewalks, streets, curbs and gutters, or in the space between the sidewalk and the traveled portion of the street, and assigns the public works department responsibility for repairing known unsafe conditions such as damaged storm sewer and sanitary sewer manhole covers. Because Chapter 86 does not write its own fine schedule for an obstruction violation, an offense falls back on the Code's general penalty provision, § 1-4, which the city applies to any act the Code declares unlawful without stating its own punishment.

That provision authorizes a fine of $1.00 to $500.00, up to six months in jail, or both, at the discretion of the municipal judge, with each day a sidewalk stays obstructed charged as a separate offense.