Palatine, IL Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Obstruction Rules (2026)

Palatine Village Code § 10-60 bars any person from causing, creating or maintaining an obstruction of any street, alley, sidewalk or other public way, except where a village ordinance specifically authorizes the activity. That general obstruction ban is reinforced by two more specific prohibitions in the same article. Section 10-63 makes it unlawful to use a street, sidewalk or other public place as space to display goods or merchandise for sale, or to write or mark any sign or advertisement on the pavement, closing off a common way merchants might otherwise use the right-of-way to advertise or sell.

Section 10-64 separately bans erecting or maintaining any building or structure that encroaches upon a public street or property, covering permanent encroachments rather than temporary obstructions like merchandise or barricades. Read together, the three sections give the public works director and police department authority to order the removal of everything from a sandwich board left across a walkway to a porch or addition that extends into the right-of-way, unless the village has authorized the specific use by ordinance, such as a sidewalk permit or a utility permit issued under Article I of the same chapter.

The obstruction ban sits in Article II alongside the village's barricade and permit rules for street and sidewalk work, so a contractor's equipment or excavated material left in the right-of-way outside the times and areas allowed by a construction permit is treated as an unlawful obstruction as well.