Lakewood, WA Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Obstruction Rules (2026)

020 reaches any person, or anyone acting for a business owner's benefit, who places vehicles, goods, wares, products, clothing, merchandise, produce, food products, or any other items on a Lakewood street, sidewalk, crosswalk, or public right-of-way for the purpose of display, sale, or presentation connected to an intent to sell. It applies whether the display sits directly in front of the business or elsewhere on the public right-of-way, and it draws no distinction based on how the items are described, covering essentially any product a business might want to showcase outside its storefront.

The ordinance also separately bars using any portion of the street, sidewalk, crosswalk, or right-of-way to measure, package, weigh, store, or otherwise prepare goods for sale, closing off a workaround where a merchant might argue the goods were being prepared rather than displayed. The only carve-out is for actions taken in the actual course of receiving or delivering goods, so a delivery truck unloading merchandise onto the sidewalk for immediate carry-in is not swept in, but leaving that same merchandise out afterward to attract customers is.

00 plus other statutory costs and assessments. The section has stood unchanged since it was adopted by Ordinance 35 in 1996 and sits within the same Miscellaneous Traffic Violations chapter that governs Lakewood's on-street parking rules.