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

Article 6 of Chapter 13 of the Plainfield Municipal Code, titled Encroachment on Streets and Sidewalks, sets four flat prohibitions in § 13:6-1 for the City of Plainfield, Union County. Each begins "No person shall."

Subsection (a) bars exposing any goods, merchandise or wares encroaching upon a street or sidewalk or part thereof, which covers sidewalk displays outside a shop. Subsection (b) bars constructing a building or part of one that extends into or over a street or sidewalk. Subsection (c) bars constructing any door or window which, when opened, extends into or over a street or sidewalk, except as provided in the Building Code or the Zoning Ordinance. Subsection (d) bars constructing a fence, pole, barrier, underground vault, underground tank, underground conduit or similar structure that extends into, encroaches upon or goes under a street or sidewalk.

The Director of Public Affairs and Safety can waive any and all provisions of the section, but only where unnecessary hardship or practical difficulty exists due to special, singular and unique circumstances relating to the affected property and not to general neighborhood conditions, where there is no evidence that public health, safety or welfare will be adversely affected, and for such other good cause shown as the Director deems proper.

Section 13:6-2 protects only what already existed: nothing in the article prohibits a building encroachment which legally existed before adoption, but if such buildings are altered or reconstructed they must conform.

Other rules in the same chapter reach temporary obstructions. Section 13:6-3 bars leaving a roll-off dumpster or container over ten (10) cubic yards on or along a street, sidewalk or public property without written permission by permit, with a fee of Fifty Dollars ($50.00), a deposit of Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($250.00) and a limit of ten (10) days for each container on the street. Section 13:3-1 requires protection of any excavation or obstruction in or upon a street or sidewalk, continued until the obstruction is removed, which must be no longer than three (3) months from the beginning of the obstruction.