West Covina, CA Special Events & Permits: Block Party Permits (2026)

Section 22-94, most recently amended by Ordinance No. 2531 in July 2025, gives five named city officials, the city engineer, public works director, public safety director, fire chief and police chief, the authority to close any street or portion of a street temporarily to vehicular, pedestrian or other traffic whenever, in their opinion, the public peace, health or safety requires it. Subsection (a) conditions that authority on notice: the city must either conspicuously post suitable signs stating the street or portion is closed, or station a police officer or other designee at the site to give that notice directly.

Subsection (b) makes it unlawful for anyone to enter or drive a vehicle into a closed portion of street contrary to the posted notice or an officer's order. The section derives from 1960 Code section 3139 and functions as the city's general legal basis for temporarily closing a residential street, whether for a neighborhood block party, a construction hazard, or an emergency, since it is not limited to any single closure purpose. The code does not set out a separate written application form, fee schedule, or advance-notice period specific to resident-requested block party closures; those procedural details, to the extent they exist, are handled administratively by the police and public works departments rather than spelled out in this section.