Is there any legal information on the placement of basketball hoops or other sporting equipment on or near the public Right of Way?

Anything put within the ROW can be considered an obstruction, this would include basketball hoops. Due to the liability to the town created by items placed within their ROW, NYS Highway Law Section 319: Obstructions and their removal, discusses removing them from the town’s ROW.

The town has the right to remove these obstructions after proper notice is given. If they are not removed by the owner, the town may remove them and pass the charges for the removal to the owner. It has also been useful to notify the insurance company of the residences that have obstructions to put them on notice that they are also liable for the homeowner’s actions.

Below is the text for Highway Law Section 319:

§319.  Obstructions and their removal.
1. Obstructions, within the meaning of this section, shall include trees which have been cut or have fallen either on adjacent lands or within the bounds of the highway, in such a manner as to interfere with public travel therein; limbs of trees which  have  fallen within the highway, or branches of trees overhanging the highways so as to interfere with public travel therein; lumber, wood or logs piled within the bounds of the public highway; machines, vehicles and implements abandoned or habitually placed within the bounds of the highway; fences, buildings or other structures erected within the bounds of the highway; earth, stone or other material placed in any ditch or waterway along the highway; telegraph, telephone, trolley and other poles, and the wires connected therewith, erected within the bounds of the highway in such a manner as to interfere with the use of the highway for public travel.

2.  It shall be the duty of each owner or occupant of lands situate along the highway, to remove all obstructions within the bounds of the highway, which have been placed there, either by themselves or by their consent. It shall be the duty of all telephone, telegraph, electric railway and other electrical companies, to remove and reset telephone, telegraph, trolley and other poles and the wires connected therewith, when the same constitute obstructions to the use of the highway by the traveling public. If temporary obstructions such as trees, lumber, wood, logs, machinery, vehicles and similar obstructions are not removed within forty-eight hours after the service of a notice, personally or by mail, upon such owner or occupant, requesting the same to be done, the town superintendent shall remove such obstruction. And if permanent obstructions, including, among others, telegraph, telephone, trolley and other poles and wires connected therewith, are not moved and reset within thirty days, the town superintendent shall move and reset such poles and wires. The expense thereby incurred shall be paid in the first instance out of moneys levied and collected and available therefor, and the amount thereof shall be charged against such owner, occupant or company, and levied and collected, as provided in section one hundred and fifty-seven.

August, 21