Passaic, NJ Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Obstruction Rules (2026)

Article I of Chapter 259, Streets and Sidewalks, adopted in 1975 and last amended in 2017, sets the City's baseline obstruction rule. Subsection A requires a City Engineer permit before anyone places brick, stone, earth, sand, gravel, lumber, ashes, refuse or similar material on a public street, alley, footway, sidewalk, pavement, crossing, gutter, drain or sewer. Subsection B goes further for the sidewalk itself: except where the chapter expressly allows it, no object, article, box, barrel, basket, sign, advertising device, foodstuff, merchandise, vending machine or stand of any kind may sit on or over any sidewalk between the building line and the curb, with only garbage, ashes and rubbish set out for lawful collection exempted.

Subsection C bars flags, pennants, banners or streamers strung over a sidewalk, curb, street or right-of-way, and creates a rebuttable presumption that anything attached to a building was hung with the owner's and principal tenant's knowledge and consent. Subsection D is the general catch-all: no article, item or personal property may be left on a street, sidewalk or alley so that it encumbers or obstructs vehicular traffic or parking. Municipal officers enforcing the chapter, the City Engineer, Chief of Police, Health Officer, Director of Public Works and their designated agents under § 259-17, may abate a nuisance or safety hazard directly, in addition to filing a Municipal Court complaint.