New Braunfels, TX Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Obstruction Rules (2026)

Sec. 114-5(a) makes it unlawful to place goods, wares, merchandise, fruits, vegetables, boxes, barrels, containers, dispensers, signs or any other obstruction on a street, street right-of-way, avenue, alley or sidewalk, or in the city's right-of-way between the curb line and the property line of any business, commercial or residential property, without first securing a permit approved by the city council. Two exceptions exist: obstructions within the downtown business corridor, which run through the separate Main Street permit process in subsection (c), and obstructions allowed as part of an approved final plat.

Materials and containers tied to solid waste collection and recycling are excluded from the ban outright. The subsection also reaches property occupants who merely allow an obstruction placed by someone else to remain: it is unlawful for a person in charge of or occupying property to permit boxes, signs or other obstructions to stay on the adjoining street, alley or sidewalk regardless of who put them there, though the rule does not apply to utility franchises or municipal utilities. Subsection (b) separately regulates signs left in the right-of-way, letting pre-March 10, 1975 signs stay if the sign bottom clears eight feet, while requiring all signs to be secured, properly maintained and, for marquees, kept at least eight feet above the sidewalk.

00 fee filed at least 30 days before the council considers it, and the council may attach an annual license fee to its approval. Enforcement follows the same Sec. 114-6 notice-and-lien track and Sec. 00 on repeat) as every other Chapter 114 street and sidewalk violation.