Pico Rivera, CA Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Obstruction Rules (2026)

Chapter 12.56, 'Street and Sidewalk Use Restrictions,' sets a hard ten-minute limit in Section 12.56.010: no person may leave or cause to be left any property or material on a public sidewalk longer than that, a rule aimed at short-term blocking, such as unloading materials, leaving equipment, or dumping items curbside. A broader, standing obstruction problem is handled separately under Chapter 12.36. Section 12.36.020 finds, citing California Government Code Section 38771, that specific fixed encroachments on any public sidewalk, street, alley, lane, court, park, or other public place amount to a public nuisance requiring abatement: fences, hedges, excavations below curb elevation made without a permit, above-ground sprinkler pipes, invasive ground cover such as ivy or ice plant that interferes with right-of-way use, retaining walls, shrubs, signs, and trees that interfere with the public's use of the right-of-way, loose gravel or broken paving, and gates that swing outward over the right-of-way.

Section 12.36.030 sets the enforcement path: citing Government Code Section 38775, the city abates these nuisance encroachments by following the procedures in Chapter 8.16 of the Pico Rivera Municipal Code, the city's property-maintenance and administrative-abatement chapter, rather than through a criminal citation alone. Together the two chapters cover both the person who dumps or parks material on a sidewalk for a few minutes and the property owner whose fence, hedge, or overgrown shrub has permanently encroached onto the public right-of-way.