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

Where Sec. 903 targets sitting or lying down during set hours, Sec. 904 reaches a broader category of conduct with no time window at all: intentionally obstructing pedestrian or vehicular traffic in any public place citywide, at any hour. The ordinance defines public place expansively, covering alleys, bridges, buildings, driveways, parking lots, parks, pedestrian malls, plazas, sidewalks and streets open to the public, including places that serve food or drink or provide entertainment, plus the doorways and entrances to buildings and dwellings and their grounds.

Obstruct pedestrian or vehicular traffic is defined to include walking, standing, sitting, lying, or placing an object so as to block another person's or vehicle's passage, or to force someone to take evasive action to avoid physical contact. The ordinance expressly carves out acts protected by the constitutional right to picket or protest, and any act authorized by a street use permit, from counting as obstruction. As with the sit-lie section, Sec. 904(c) bars a citation unless the person was first notified by a law enforcement or city enforcement officer that the specific conduct violated the section and continued anyway. Both sections were adopted together by Ord. 2922, effective June 3, 2010, and sit in Article 9, Pedestrian Regulations, of the traffic chapter.