AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 11, ARTICLE IV OF THE TOWN CODE OF ORDINANCES REGARDING PICKETING (2009-02-09/O-1)

BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill as follows:

Section  I.  Article IV of Chapter 11 of the Town Code is hereby revised to read as follows:

ARTICLE IV.   PICKETING

Sec. 11-53. Peaceful picketing declared permissible; compliance with article.

Peaceful picketing in the furtherance of a lawful purpose shall be permitted in the town provided the same is done under the conditions set forth in this article.

Picketing done contrary to the provisions of this article shall be unlawful.

Sec. 11-54. "Block" “Picketing”  defined

The term "block" as used in this article shall mean that portion of a street lying between street intersections.  Picketing is defined as a demonstration or vigil on sidewalks or other public property reserved for pedestrian use.

Sec. 11-55. Picketing Tto be done only on sidewalks or other pedestrian areas.

Picketing may be conducted only on the sidewalks or other public property reserved for pedestrian movement or, where there is no paved sidewalk, on the unpaved shoulder portion of a public right-of-way if such picketing will not interfere with normal vehicular traffic, and may not be conducted on the portion of a street used primarily for vehicular traffic or parking. 

Sec. 11-56. Number of pickets per block. Pickets promoting different objectives.

Not more than ten (10) pickets promoting the same objective shall be permitted to use one of the two (2) sidewalks within a block of the town at any one time.

If pickets promoting different objectives desire to use the same sidewalk or other pedestrian area for picketing and such use would result in the presence of more than ten (10) pickets thereon, the chief of police shall allot time and space to each group of pickets for the use of such sidewalk on an equitable basis.

Sec. 11-57. Marching regulations; single file; distance apart.

Pickets must march in single file and not abreast and may not march closer together than fifteen (15) feet, except in passing one another.  Reserved.

Sec. 11-58. Placards, signs.

Pickets may carry written or printed placards or signs not exceeding two (2) feet in width and two (2) feet in length promoting the objective for which the picketing is done; provided the words used are not defamatory in nature or and  would not tend to produce violence.  Pickets may carry signs larger than two feet by two feet if the chief of police or his designee, based on the location of the picketing activities, determines that such signs do not appear to interfere with drivers’ line of sight or otherwise constitute a risk to public safety.

Sec. 11-59. Physical interference, or abusive language, directed to pickets.

It shall be unlawful for any person to physically interfere with pickets in the use of the sidewalk or to address profane, indecent, abusive or threatening language to or at pickets which would tend to provoke pickets or others to a breach of the peace.

Sec. 11-60. Dispersal of picket harassers by police.

The police officers of the town may in the event of the assemblage of persons in such numbers as to tend to intimidate pickets pursuing their lawful objective through numbers alonge or through use of inflammatory words, direct the dispersal of persons so assembled and may arrest any person who fails to absent himself from the place of such assemblage when so directed by the police.

Sec. 11-61. Refusal to disperse when obstructing passage.

Whenever the free passage of any street, or sidewalk, alley, or public walkway in the town shall be obstructed by a person or persons, so that another person’s passage is thereby blocked, the person or persons obstructing said passage shall disperse or move on to allow the other person to pass when directed to do so by a police officer. It shall be unlawful for any person to refuse to so disperse or move on when so directed by a police officer as herein provided.

This the 9^th day of February, 2009.