Janesville, WI Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Obstruction Rules (2026)

Section 34-60 opens with a general ban: unless the City Council expressly authorizes it, no person may use any part of a sidewalk in the City of Janesville to display merchandise or store merchandise or other personal property. The section then carves out one exception, available only when every listed condition is met. First, the property must sit in the B5 (Central Business) or B6 (Central Service) zoning district. Second, the merchandise cannot obstruct or impede the pedestrian right-of-way: it must adjoin the building it's marketed from, cannot encroach more than 30 inches out from the building facade, and the unobstructed sidewalk area left over must be at least five contiguous feet wide and meet ADA requirements.

Third, whatever is displayed must be the kind of merchandise the business actually sells. Fourth, any displayed merchandise or personal property has to come off the sidewalk each day after the business closes, and in no event can it sit outdoors between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Putting merchandise out on a paved sidewalk is treated as the property or business owner's express consent for the City to take corrective, remedial or removal action and to bill the cost of that correction back to the owner, and the property and business owners are jointly and severally liable for injuries the display causes.

Article III's general penalty, Section 34-63, applies because Section 34-60 sets no penalty of its own: a forfeiture not exceeding $100.00 plus costs of prosecution, up to 30 days in the county jail on default, and each day of a continuing violation counted separately.