Who should pay for construction and maintenance of city sidewalks?

Submitted by Suanne Z. Thamm
Reporter – News Analyst
April 11, 2016 1:00 a.m.

While this may seem like a strange question to some readers, Fernandina Beach City Commissioners (FBCC) devoted twenty minutes at the end of their April 5, 2016 Regular Meeting to considering whether property owners or the city should be required to maintain sidewalks along public thoroughfares in the city.  Following the discussion, it seemed clear that there was little interest in pursuing an ordinance that would shift responsibility from the city to private property owners.  The commissioners will next address the topic during FY 2016-17 budget deliberations.

The issue of sidewalk maintenance and costs originated during a general discussion of city maintenance needs at the FBCC’s January Goals meeting. City Attorney Tammi Bach, following direction from the FBCC, researched ordinances from other cities that require abutting property owners to pay for construction and maintenance of sidewalks. Bach produced examples from Jacksonville Beach, Marco Island, Fort Lauderdale and Jacksonville. Under these ordinances, property owners who fail to abide by the ordinance, the city can do the required work and bill the property owner or lien private property for the cost of the work. Bach stressed that language of the ordinances is discretionary. The city “may,” not “shall”, require private property owners to pay costs.

Vice Mayor Robin Lentz questioned the use of the word “may,” suggesting that the implication is that it leads to arbitrary enforcement. Bach said that the language is intended to relieve an existing neighborhood of a requirement to build a sidewalk where none currently exists. She reminded commissioners that sidewalks are required for all new commercial and residential developments in the city.

Commissioner Roy Smith said he had a problem with such an ordinance. “I can see the property owner being responsible for the driveway apron, if the sidewalk is in that. But I have a problem with telling someone that they have to fix a city sidewalk in the city’s right of way (ROW). A lot of the damage has been done by planting trees next to sidewalks. Are we also going to tell them to fix the street or curb that has been torn up by tree roots? I don’t think that is right. I think this is a poor idea. I don’t think it’s fair to the people to say [the city] is going to put sidewalks there and you are going to pay for it. … Suppose a garbage truck pulls up on the sidewalk and breaks it. They do that all the time, cutting corners. Are we making the garbage trucks replace the curbs they’re knocking over? No. I don’t agree with this idea at all.”

Commissioner Len Kreger agreed with Smith, saying, “I’m not too thrilled with this.” He recalled that the issue initially concentrated on maintenance, not construction of sidewalks. He urged commissioners to look at whether this was simply a budgetary issue. “I think this is premature,” he said. “We need to decide what we really want to do. Is this a budgetary issue or are we trying to make citywide sidewalks a goal?”

Commissioner Tim Poynter took a different position. “Where I’m from–Cincinnati,” he said, “the city did not make anyone put in sidewalks where they didn’t exist. But after the city constructed the sidewalks, the abutting property owners were responsible for taking care of them—just like they were expected to remove snow, keep debris off the sidewalk, etc. The fact is, sidewalks are a safety issue. [In Cincinnati] you could either opt to have the sidewalk repaired yourself from a list of approved vendors or have the city do the work and pay as part of your property tax bill over 5 years. The city became safer because it didn’t have the public money to repair every cracked sidewalk. I think this is a reasonable option for the city [of Fernandina Beach]. Are you shifting the burden? Possibly. But it is the responsibility of the community to maintain the property in front of their house. I know it’s a slippery slope, but it doesn’t have to be that slippery.”

Lentz said that while she understood Poynter’s position, but agreed with Smith that there are certain basic functions of government that should be funded for the public benefit. She continued to express concerns with legal issues that could arise from a discretionary policy. “I think the city needs to do a better job of having a defined maintenance plan for sidewalks,” she said.

Kreger disagreed with Poynter. “Where I come from—Chicago,” he said, “the city was responsible for its sidewalks. I think we’re being driven here by budget. I think it would be a bad policy because where the city does have sidewalks that need to be maintained, they are generally not in affluent areas. I understand what Tim is saying but we need to carefully consider what we intend to shift to the taxpayer.”

Smith expressed concern with this item even being considered, since it was not one of the city’s top goals. Bach agreed, but said that the commission had agreed with Poynter on the need to discuss it. Poynter said that as the community ages and grows, the needs for maintenance grow as well. “This was an attempt to look at a different way of doing things,” he said, “but at the end of the day, these sidewalks need to be fixed. We can’t just keep grinding down sidewalks if you want to have nice, fresh-looking neighborhoods and downtown. We will either need to raise the taxes to do these things or task certain people with doing these things. But the bottom line is that the work has to get done.”

Kreger agreed, saying that this is one of the items that needs to be considered during the first budget meeting in May. Smith added that there are no sidewalks in his neighborhood, so he would not need to worry about maintaining one. But he questioned whether it was fair to people who have sidewalks in front of their homes to be required to maintain them so that anyone can use them. “A lot of the problem is caused by trees, there’s no doubt,” he said.

Mayor Johnny Miller, who weighed in last, said, “I’ve got to tell you I’m against this thing. I picture a lot of neighborhoods where you are going to go to someone who is already barely squeaking by [financially] and tell them, ‘you’ve got to fix your sidewalk.’ I think we are putting ourselves in the position where some people will be required to do this and others won’t. That really bothers me. I would like to hear numbers on how much construction and maintenance of sidewalks would cost the city. … This whole thing scares me, and my ‘discussion’ is I’m not for it.”

Kreger said, “It’s all about money. In my mind we just need to do it right and do it fair, the best we can.”

Editor’s Note: Suanne Z. Thamm is a native of Chautauqua County, NY, who moved to Fernandina Beach from Alexandria,VA, in 1994. As a long time city resident and city watcher, she provides interesting insight into the many issues that impact our city. We are grateful for Suanne’s many contributions to the Fernandina Observer.