Surprise, AZ Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Obstruction Rules (2026)

Sec. 34-107 bars obstructing any public street, alley, sidewalk, park or other public ground within the city in two distinct ways. First, it prohibits committing any act on those public grounds that is injurious to health, indecent, or offensive to the senses. Second, and more directly relevant to sidewalk encroachments, it prohibits doing anything on a street, alley, sidewalk, park or other public ground that obstructs or interferes with the free use of property, or with any business lawfully conducted in, upon, or fronting on that street, alley, sidewalk, park or public ground.

That second clause reaches physical encroachments, blocked walkways or anything else that keeps a sidewalk from being freely passable or keeps an adjoining business from being reached. 060. A related but narrower provision, Sec. 34-135, separately bars obstructing a street contrary to a police directive or without an event permit and bars intentionally, knowingly or recklessly blocking a vehicle's access to a street except in an emergency, under an event permit, or with public works authorization; that section addresses traffic and event obstructions rather than the general sidewalk-encroachment rule in Sec. 34-107.