If a man breaks his hip tripping over a jutting chunk of
concrete on the sidewalk outside your house, don’t turn to the city
for help.
By Chris Bone staff writer
Gilroy – If a man breaks his hip tripping over a jutting chunk of concrete on the sidewalk outside your house, don’t turn to the city for help. It could be your fault now.
State law has long required property owners to maintain the sidewalk at the edge of their land, but up until now the city of Gilroy has assumed liability for injuries sustained on faulty sidewalks.
To “protect the city” from lawsuits – the city is currently fighting one sidewalk-related lawsuit on top of two other insurance claims, according to an e-mail from LeeAnn McPhillips, Gilroy’s human resources director – Mayor Al Pinheiro lobbied the City Council to hold property owners accountable for unkempt sidewalks resulting in accidents.
“This bill has teeth in it to transfer liability from the city to residents,” said City Attorney Linda Callon, referring to the ordinance that councilmen directed staff to flesh out before a final vote later this year. “It creates a big incentive for people to really maintain their sidewalks,” Callon said.
Residents who don’t abide will receive city notices requesting proper sidewalk care; and if they refuse, they will have to reimburse the city the full repair costs.
“That’s just ridiculous,” said Anthony Lewis, a heavy equipment operator who lives at the corner of Ninth and Church streets. “The city’s the one who put the sidewalk there. Why should the responsibility be on us?”
But during his presentation to the City Council Monday night, City Transportation Engineer Don Dey said if every property owner looks after his own sidewalks, then they remain in better shape, and money’s spent more efficiently.
The city will continue to split sidewalk repair costs with property owners in what’s known as the “50-50” program as long as repairs are done in a “timely manner,” Dey said.
Property owners must first request to be on the 50-50 program, Dey said. Then they must get three bids so the city knows how much construction costs will be, and then construction can actually begin.
This is an especially touchy issue because the unpassed ordinance could require property owners to ensure their sidewalks are in good shape before they sell their land. If they take too long – “X number of days,” Dey said – the city will take 100 percent of the repair costs out of the seller’s escrow account.
Councilman Craig Gartman took issue with this type of ambiguity Thursday.
“What if everyone applies for 50-50?” he asked. “I’m all in favor of fixing the sidewalks, but we don’t want to get into a position where we’re forcing people into difficult financial situations.”
The city’s sidewalk program has been in a difficult financial situation itself.
For the current fiscal year, officials are projecting a $2.7 million budget shortfall, according to City Administrator Jay Baksa. Money for the 50-50 comes from city gas tax and the general fund, and the city has budgeted $250,000 this fiscal year for the program.
“If all of a sudden we get a flood of requests for projects, we would see if we could get some additional money so property owners could make improvements to their sidewalk,” Dey said. City officials have already added $100,000 to the 50-50 program in the last few years, so any increased spending would not be unprecedented.
Not only will the city inspect any property up for sale to make sure existing sidewalks are in order, but it could mandate the installation of new sidewalks where there are none.
On top of this, if a renovation project exceeds $10,000, then the property owner would have to fix any problems with the existing sidewalk or install one if it’s absent.
“I’m seeing a whole bunch of stuff, until right now, the city was doing, but now it’s the property owner’s responsibility,” Gartman told the council Monday before he convinced fellow councilmen to remove a part of the ordinance that would’ve made property owners also responsible for removing weed and tree debris from sidewalk areas.
While Dey’s Sidewalk Task Force is only a year old, W.B. Burdich has lived near the corner of Rosanna and Tenth streets for more than 50 years and has impeccable sidewalks in front of his house.
“It belongs to the city,” he said, sitting on a lawn chair in his garage Thursday afternoon, “but the city will do what they want to do. They’re the boss. They’re going to get you any damn way to go about it.”
