New Britain, CT Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Obstruction Rules (2026)

Sec. 21-15(a) lists six specific ways a person may not obstruct "any street or any other public place" without a department of public works permit: depositing refuse or placing fences or any impediment on the street; constructing a bridge over the street; filling a canal, drain, or gutter; obstructing or altering the course of a run of water; using a hydrant; or filling a catch basin. The section's cross-reference ties its origin to 1970 Code Sec. 20-23(a) and (c), later amended by ordinance No. 26824-1 in 2002.

Subsection (b) adds a financial condition on top of the permit itself: the department of public works cannot issue the obstruction permit until the applicant files a bond, satisfactory in form to the department, securing the city against any claim for accident damages that result from the obstruction. This bond requirement sits alongside the separate building-materials permit in Sec. 21-16 and the tree-cutting permission in Secs. 21-7 and 21-18, all administered by the same department for activity in the public right-of-way. The chapter's own footnote traces the city's underlying authority to G.S.

Sec. 7-148(c)(6)(C)(ii), which lets a municipality "keep open" and free from obstruction its streets, sidewalks, and public places. A separate section, Sec. 21-9, bars letting earth, gravel, sand or other mineral matter escape onto a street or right-of-way, and Sec. 21-17 lets the city recover, as a property lien, the cost of any work it performs when an owner refuses to pay for corrective work the city had to do under this chapter.