Butte County, CA Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Sidewalk Repair (2026)

Section 50-17 sits inside Chapter 50, the County's Stormwater Ordinance, because loose dirt and litter swept into the street can become a pollutant discharged to the County storm drain system. The section first bars anyone from throwing, depositing, or leaving refuse, rubbish, garbage, litter, or green waste on public or private property, streets, alleys, sidewalks, or storm drain components where it might reach the Waters of the United States. Its second paragraph fixes responsibility for the sidewalk itself: the occupant or tenant of property fronting a paved sidewalk must keep it free of dirt and litter to the maximum extent practicable, and if there is no occupant or tenant, that duty falls to the owner, lessee, or proprietor.

Sweepings cannot be swept or allowed into the gutter or roadway; they must be disposed of in the same on-site receptacles required for regular garbage and recycling collection. Because this duty lives in the stormwater chapter, a violation is treated like any other Chapter 50 offense: the Public Works Administrator can issue a warning or a Notice of Noncompliance under Section 50-32 describing the violation and a deadline to correct it, and the condition is deemed a public nuisance under Section 50-28 that the County can abate at the violator's expense if it is not corrected.

An affected person can appeal a notice to the Clerk of the Board within thirty days, with the fee set in Section 3-43(1), under Section 50-33. The Butte County Code does not contain a separate provision requiring abutting owners to repair, replace, or reconstruct a broken or uneven sidewalk surface; Section 50-17's duty is limited to keeping the existing paved sidewalk free of dirt and litter, not to structural maintenance of the pavement.