Lodi, CA Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Obstruction Rules (2026)

380 for an unpermitted residential lawn that meets the city's water-efficient landscape standard. Subsection (B) goes further and makes the underlying rule absolute rather than permit-curable for walkways: no hedge, shrub, planting, fence or similar structure may be maintained across an existing walkway in a sidewalk area or shoulder, because the intent of the restriction is to keep a walkway free for pedestrians or other lawful public travel without interference by or with vehicular travel. The subsection separately bars any encroachment of any nature that impedes, obstructs or denies pedestrian or other lawful travel within the right-of-way, or that impairs adequate sight distance for safe pedestrian or vehicular traffic, language broad enough to reach parked planters, low walls at corners, or overgrown landscaping at an intersection.

Subsection (C) puts ongoing upkeep on the property owner or permittee: hedges, shrubs, walls, fences or similar landscaping structures must be kept in a neat and orderly condition at all times, and if they are not, the public works director can order the permittee or property owner to remove the encroachment and restore the right-of-way, at that owner's expense.