Flagler County, FL Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Obstruction Rules (2026)

Sec. 26-4, titled the "county encroachment ordinance," targets items placed within the right-of-way that create a safety hazard to vehicles or pedestrians in unincorporated Flagler County. The code defines "encroachment" as placement within the right-of-way of any nonfrangible item that can be deemed a safety hazard to vehicular or pedestrian traffic, and "hazard" simply as a source of danger. Under Sec. 26-4(e), it is a violation for any person to "cause, create, permit, allow or contribute to allowing the continuation or placement of items deemed to be safety hazards within the public right-of-way," a broad standard that reaches everything from parked equipment and stored materials to structures encroaching on the shoulder or swale.

The ordinance carries one narrow, construction-specific exception. Under Sec. 26-4(f), contractors working under an issued building permit, or performing utility installation or repair, may temporarily park equipment or materials essential to the work in the swale area, but only at least two feet off the paved right-of-way immediately adjacent to the permitted property. Anything staged there cannot restrict proper drainage of stormwater runoff, and it must be marked with reflective warning signs meeting state Department of Transportation standards, visible for a distance of one hundred feet.

Sec. 26-4 works alongside Sec. 26-2, which makes property owners and contractors jointly responsible for repairing damage to roads, swales, shoulders, medians and drainage systems caused by construction, and requires county engineer inspection before and after affected work. Both provisions apply only to public rights-of-way in unincorporated Flagler County, not streets inside Palm Coast, Flagler Beach, Beverly Beach, Bunnell or Marineland.